LIBRARY 

OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  'CALIFORNIA 
/) J>       ,\    TTOK    T|     . 

^f^rVYvo  Tnr^Tv^f^vrt^     UxnAArr^ 

^cession 9.97.16 C/^s 


HISTORY  OF  HIGHER  EDUCATION 
IN  KENTUCKY 


A   DISSERTATION 

PRESENTED    TO    THE    BOARD    OF    UNIVERSITY     STUDIES    OF     THE 

JOHNS     HOPKINS     UNIVERSITY    FOR    THE     DEGREE    OF 

DOCTOR     OF     PHILOSOPHY 


BY 


ALV1N  FAYETTE  LEWIS 


SIT.'" 


1899 


HISTORY  OF  HIGHER  EDUCATION 
IN  KENTUCKY 


A   DISSERTATION 

PRESENTED    TO    THE    BOARD    OF    UNIVERSITY     STUDIES    OF     THE 

JOHNS     HOPKINS     UNIVERSITY    FOR    THE     DEGREE    OF 

DOCTOR     OF     PHILOSOPHY 


BY 

ALV1N  FAYETTE  LEWIS 


1899 


Urn 

-  H  I  flfi 


fi 
1 

' 


: 

ffesa.    s 


[Whole  Number  256 

UNITED  STATES  BUREAU  OF  EDUCATION, 
CIRCULAR    OF    INFORMATION    NO.    3,    1899. 


CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  AMERICAN  EDUCATIONAL  HISTORY, 

EDITED     BY    ITTCHBEUT     B.    ADAMS. 


No.    25. 


HISTORY  OF  HIGHER  EDUCATION 


KENTUCKY. 


ALV1N   FAYETTE   LEWIS,  A.  M.,  PH.  JD., 

Professor  of  History  in  the  University  of  Arkansas. 


r    X 

P    rms  <\ 

^•^•j^rr^ 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT    PRINTING    OFFICE. 
1899. 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL 


DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  INTERIOR, 

BUREAU  OF  EDUCATION, 
Washington,  J).  0.,  June  26,  1899. 

SIR  :  I  have  the  hoiior  to  transmit  for  publication  as  a  circular  of 
information  the  twenty-fifth  in  the  series  of  contributions  to  American 
educational  history  edited  by  Prof.  Herbert  B.  Adams.  The  present 
number  treats  of  the  State  of  Kentucky,  and  is  by  Dr.  A.  F.  Lewis, 
some  time  president  of  the  Seminary  West  of  the  Suwanee  Eiver,  in 
Tallahassee,  Fla.  In  this  monograph  Dr.  Lewis  has  undertaken  to 
cover,  with  considerable  detail,  all  phases  of  education  in  Kentucky, 
and  has  brought  together  a  great  mass  of  facts  of  much  educational 
importance  and  but  little  known. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  Kentucky  entered  early  on  the  work  of  educa- 
tion, for  by  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution  a  charter  had  been 
given  to  Transylvania  Seminary,  from  which  grew  the  Transylvania 
University,  long  and  favorably  known  throughout  the  West  and 
Southwest. 

The  public-school  system,  which  was  also  organized  at  a  compara- 
tively early  date,  is  treated,  and  the  literature  of  education,  extensive 
although  fragmentary  in  character,  is  reviewed  in  a  series  of  bibliogra- 
phies appended  to  the  various  historical  sketches. 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

W.  T.  HARRIS,  Commissioner. 
Hon.  E.  A.  HITCHCOCK, 

Secretary  of  the  Interior. 

3 


99716 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Page. 

General  sketch ' 11 

CHAPTER  II.— SOME  INTERESTING  FEATURES  OF  EARLY  EDUCATION. 

A  State  university  system 21 

The  "  old-field  "schools 30 

Early  female  education 33 

CHAPTER  III.— TRANSYLVANIA  UNIVERSITY. 

Transylvania  Seminary 35 

Kentucky  Academy 46 

The  University  proper '. 50 

Period  from  1799  to  1818 51 

Period  from  1818  to  1827 58 

Period  from  1827  to  1849 64 

Period  from  1849  to  1865 76 

CHAPTER  IV. — INSTITUTIONS  MORE  OR  LESS   DIRECTLY  CONNECTED   WITH 
TRANSYLVANIA  UNIVERSITY  AND  OLDER  COLLEGES. 

Kentucky  University 83 

Kentucky  School  of  Medicine 96 

The  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College 100 

Centre  College 110 

Kentucky  Wesleyan  College 125 

St.  Mary's  College 133 

Georgetown  College 140 

CHAPTER  V. — OTHER  MALE  AND  COEDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS. 

Kentucky  Military  Institute 166 

South  Kentucky  College 169 

Bethel  College 173 

Berea  College 183 

Lynnland  Male  and  Female  Institute 191 

Central  University 193 

Clinton  College 210 

Liberty  College 214 

Ogden  College 217 

Union  College 221 

CHAPTER  VI. — FEMALE  COLLEGES. 

Loretto  Academy 226 

Nazareth  Academy 228 

Science  Hill 230 

5 


6  CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Logan  Female  College 233 

Millersburg  Female  College 236 

Bethel  Female  College 239 

Beaumont  College  (including  Daughters'  College) 243 

Sayre  Female  Institute 245 

Caldwell  College 247 

Hamilton  Female  College 250 

.Jessamine  Female  Institute 252 

Stanford  Female  College 254 

Villa  Ridge  College 256 

Potter  College 257 

O wensboro  College 259 

CHAPTER  VII.— SPECIAL  PROFESSIONAL  SCHOOLS. 

The  University  of  Louisville 261 

Danville  Theological  Seminary 272 

Southern  Baptist  Theological  Seminary 279 

Louisville  Medical  College 288 

Louisville  College  of  Pharmacy 292 

The  Southern  Normal  School 295 

The  State  Normal  School 298 

Louisville  National  Medical  College 301 

Southwestern  Homeopathic  Medical  College 303 

Louisville  Presbyterian  Theological  Seminary 306 

CHAPTER  VIII. — EXTINCT  COLLEGES  OF  SOME  IMPORTANCE. 

Bethel  Academy 310 

Augusta  College -. 312 

Warren  College 316 

St.  Joseph's  College 318 

Cumberland  College 323 

Shelby  College 325 

Eminence  College 325 

CHAPTER  IX. — THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SYSTEM. 

Foundation 328 

Growth 338 

Publ ic  school  system  of  Louisville 343 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


TRANSYLVANIA  UNIVERSITY:  Page. 

Main  building,  erected  1818,  burned  1829.... Frontispiece 

Medical  building,  erected  1840,  burned  1863 35 

Transylvania  University,  1860 76 

KENTUCKY  UNIVERSITY: 

College  of  Liberal  Arts 91 

College  of  the  Bible 93 

KENTUCKY  STATE  COLLEGE  (AGRICULTURAL  AND  MECHANICAL  COLLEGE)  : 

Main  building 100 

Experiment  station  building 100 

Centre  College,  main  building 110 

Kentucky  Wesley  an  College 125 

St.  Mary's  College 133 

GEORGETOWN  COLLEGE: 

Pawling  Hall 140 

Recitation  Hall 152 

South  Kentucky  College 169 

Bethel  College,  general  view ITS 

Berea  College,  general  view 183 

CENTRAL  UNIVERSITY: 

Main  building 19S 

Hospital  College  of  Medicine,  Louisville 204 

Liberty  College 214 

OgdeirCollege 218 

Danville  Theological  Seminary,  Breckinridge  Hall 276 

SOUTHKRN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY: 

New  York  Hall 280 

Norton  Hall - 282 

Library  building 286 

Louisville  Medical  College 290 

State  Normal  School 298 

Public  school,  primitive  conditions 334 

7 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


In  the  preparation  of  this  monograph  the  writer  has  been  kindly 
assisted  by  many  college  officers  and  others,  who  have  furnished  infor- 
mation and  cooperated  in  other  ways,  but  whom  it  would  be  impossible 
here  to  thank  by  name.  He  desires,  however,  to  express  especially  his 
obligations  to  J.  W.  Black,  Ph.  D.,  acting  professor  of  history  in 
Georgetown  College,  Kentucky,  in  1891-92,  and  now  professor  of  history 
in  Colby  University,  Maine,  for  the  preparation  of  the  sketch  of  the 
former  institution;  to  Hon.  E.  P.  Thompson,  ex- superintendent  of 
public  instruction,  for  courtesies  extended  in  connection  with  the  use  of 
the  Collins  collection  and  other  important  historical  material  in  the  State 
capitol;  to  H.  H.  White,  LL.  D.,  the  learned  ex-president  and  professor 
emeritus  of  Kentucky  University,  for  the  loan  of  a  transcript  of  the 
minutes  of  the  trustees  of  Transylvania  University  and  for  valuable 
data  in  regard  to  that  institution  and  Kentucky  University,  and  also 
to  E.  T.  Durrett,  LL.  D.,  the  distinguished  president  of  the  Filsoii  Club 
of  Louisville,  Ky.,  for  the  free  use  of  his  unsurpassed  library  of  Ken- 
tucky history,  for  personal  suggestions,  and  other  assistance. 

The  facts  used  in  the  introduction  have  been  gathered  from  the 
remainder  of  the  monograph.  Much  information  has  been  obtained 
from  Reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education,  from  catalogues, 
correspondence  and  personal  interviews  with  the  present  executive 
officers  of  the  different  institutions — information  usually  not  mentioned 
explicitly.  Where  no  other  authority  is  given,  a  sketch  has  been 
prepared  exclusively  from  one  or  more  of  these  sources. 

9 


Chapter  I. 

INTRODUCTION— GENERAL  SKETCH. 


Partly  for  covenience  of  treatment,  and  partly  because  the  periods 
are  in  a  general  way  epoch-making,  the  history  of  education  in  Ken- 
tucky may  be  divided  into  five  parts,  as  follows:  (1)  From  the  settle- 
ment of  the  State  to  1820 ;  (2)  from  1820  to  1830;  (3)  from  1830  to 
1850;  (4)  from  1850  to  1870;  (5)  from  1870  to  the  present  time.  It  is 
to  be  constantly  borne  in  mind,  hovever,  that  the  dates  selected  are 
only  approximate  and  not  exact  points  of  division,  and  that  the  move- 
ment, or  movements,  specially  characterizing  one  period,  as  a  rule, 
have  their  beginning  in  the  previous  one,  and  sometimes  extend,  at 
least  in  a  modified  form,  through  one  or  more  subsequent  ones.  An 
attempt  will  be  made  here  only  to  give  the  main  characteristics  of  each 
of  these  periods,  their  most  interesting  individual  features  being 
reserved  for  more  detailed  treatment  in  connection  with  the  history  of 
the  systems  and  institutions  most  closely  associated  with  each. 

THE  PERIOD  UP  TO  1820. 

The  first  thing  that  strikes  our  attention  in  the  educational  history 
of  Kentucky  is  the  early  establishment  of  schools  at  its  various  sta- 
tions, or  settlements,  notwithstanding  the  extremely  unsettled  condi- 
tion of  its  affairs,  and  the  great  difficulties  and  dangers,  especially 
from  the  Indians,  which  constantly  beset  its  early  inhabitants.  The 
pioneers  in  the  settlement  of  the  State  were  largely  from  the  Yalley  of 
Virginia,  having  entered  Kentucky  through  Cumberland  Gap,  and 
were  chiefly  of  Scotch-Irish  descent.  The  leaders  among  them  espe- 
cially were  men  of  more  than  the  average  intelligence  and  culture,1 
and  we  see  them  early  taking  steps  to  promote  the  diffusion  of 
useful  knowledge  among  themselves  and  their  descendants. 

1  Marshall  says  of  the  early  settlers  (History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  442) :  "And 
what  may  be  assumed  with  great  confidence  as  a  truth  is  that  there  were  to  be 
found  in  this  population  as  much  talent  and  intelligence  as  fell  to  the  lot  of  any 
equal  number  of  people,  promiscuously  taken,  in  either  Europe  or  America."  The 
"Kentucky  Society  for  Promoting  Useful  Knowledge"  existed  as  early  as  1787,  as  is 
shown  by  a  notice  of  one  of  its  meetings  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette  of  December  1, 
1787.  The  issue  of  August  2, 1788,  also  contains  a  notice  of  a  "  Society  for  Improve- 
ment in  Knowledge."  A  marked  evidence  of  at  least  political  acumen  is  to  be  found 
in  the  discussions  of  "The  Political  Club,"  which  existed  at  Danville  from  1786  to 
1790,  and,  independent  entirely  of  all  similar  discussions,  anticipated  in  its  debates 
a  number  of  the  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  that  were 
subsequently  adopted.  See  "The  Political  Club,"  by  Thomas  Speed,  Louisville,  1894. 

11 


12  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

So  the  beginnings  of  education  in  the  State  are  almost  coincident 
with  its  foundation.  Within  about  a  year  after  the  first  permanent  set- 
tlement had  been  established  at  Harrodsburg  in  1774,  when  it  was  yet 
uncertain  to  whom  the  territory  now  composing  Kentucky,  belonged, 
as  is  shown  by  the  organization  of  the  Transylvania  Company/ 
we  hear  of  a  school  being  taught  at  Harrodsburg,  probably  in  the 
spring  of  1776,  by  Mrs.  Coomes,2  the  wife  of  one  of  the  settlers,  and  that, 
too,  when  Indians  were  skulking  around  the  station,  ready  at  any 
moment  to  fall  upon  the  unwary  inhabitants.  Some  of  Daniel  Boone's 
companions  had  just  been  killed  by  them,  and  their  outrages  had  just 
driven  many  prospective  settlers  back  to  Virginia.  These  are  rather 
unusual  circumstances  for  a  school  to  be  taught  under,  especially  by  a 
woman ;  but  such  were  the  surroundings  of  the  first  school  taught  in 
Kentucky. 

Other  similar  schools  were  soon  established,  as  that  of  John  May  at 
McAfee's  Station  in  1777,  of  Joseph  Doniphaii  atBoonesboro  in  1779,  and 
of  John  McKiniiey  at  Lexington  in  1780,  within  one  year  after  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  town.  The  perils  faced  by  these  and  other  brave  pio- 
neers of  education  in  Kentucky  are  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  several  of 
them  were  either  killed  by  the  Indians  or  suffered  bodily  harm  from 
wild  animals.3 

We  do  not  know  just  who  attended  these  early  schools  or  what  was 
taught  in  them,  but  they  were  probably  mainly  intended  for  the  younger 
children  of  the  stations  where  they  were  located,  and  were  of  quite  an 
elementary  character.  They  were  the  first  types  of  the  early  private 
and  neighborhood  schools,  commonly  called  u  Old-field,"  or  "  Hedge- 
row," schools,  of  which  a  more  extended  notice  will  be  given  later. 

Schools  of  a  higher  grade,  however,  soon  appeared.  John  Filson,4 
the  surveyor,  adventurer,  and  first  historian  of  Kentucky,  as  well  as 
teacher,  established  a  seminary  in  Lexington  in  or  before  1784.  The 
pioneer  Baptist  preacher,  Kev.  Elijah  Craig,  established  one  at  George- 
town early  in  1788,5  and  during  the  same  year  the  celebrated  Dr. 

1  In  regard  to  the  character  and  organization  of  the  Transylvania  Company,  see 
Chapter  III,  p.  44. 

2  See  Spalding's  Sketches  of  the  Early  Catholic  Missions  of  Kentucky,  p.  34;  also 
Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  486. 

3  John  May  was  killed  by  the  Indians  in  the  early  part  of  1790  while  going  down 
the  Ohio  River  in  a  boat  (Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  II,  p.  570).     John 
McKinney  was  mangled  by  a  wild-cat  while  teaching  at  Lexington  in  May,  1783 
(Collins,  Vol.  II,  p.  226).    John  Filson,  one  of  the  teachers  mentioned  below,  was 
killed  by  the  Indians  in  the  latter  part  of  1788  near  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  of  which  he 
was  one  of  the  founders,  under  the  name  of  Losantiville  (Collins,  Vol.  II,  pp.  432-433). 

4  See  reference  to  Filson's  death  above,  as  also  Collins,  Vol.  I,  p.  640,  and  Vol.  II, 
p.  183;  also  The  Life  and  Writings  of  John  Filson,  by  R.  T.  Durrett,  LL.  D.,  Louis- 
ville, 1884. 

5  There  is  an  advertisement  of  the  early  establishment  of  this  school  in  the  issue 
of  the  Kentucky  Gazette  (see  Chapter  III  for  description  of  this  old  newspaper)  for 
January  5, 1788. 


INTRODUCTION GENERAL    SKETCH.  13 

Jaines  Priestly  took  charge  of  Salem  Academy l  at  Bardstown  (then 
called  Bairdstown),  which  had  been  preceded  there,  as  early  as  1786, 
by  a  school  taught  by  a  Mr.  Shackleford.  This  school,  under  Dr. 
Priestly's  management,  was  for  some  time  one  of  the  most  noted  in  the 
State,  and  in  it  many  of  the^gfeat  public  men  of  the  early  history  of 
Kentucky  received  the^principal  part  of  their  education. 

The  founding  of  private  high  schools  contipued  steadily,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  another  movement  to  be  presently  noticed,  until  Winter- 
both  am,2  in  1795,  could  truthfully  say,  in  writing  of  Kentucky's 
educational  facilities:  "Schools  are  established  in  the  several  towns, 
and  in  general  regularly  and  handsomely  supported;"  and  Marshall3 
states,  referring  in  general  to  the  period  we  are  considering: 

There  are  many  educated  and  more  means  to  be  applied  in  that  way  than  most 
other  countries  could  afford,  while  a  general  propensity  for  giving  and  receiving 
literary  instruction  was  obviously  a  prevailing  sentiment  throughout  the  country. 

The  other  movement  just  referred  to  is  the  most  striking  feature  of 
the  State's  early  educational  history,  and  is  so  interesting  as  to  demand 
of  us,  in  another  connection,  a  more  extended  treatment.  It  consisted 
in  the  inauguration  of  a  system  of  local  and  State  patronage  of  sec- 
ondary and  higher  education.  Lexington,  soon  after  its  establishment, 
reserved  land  for  Latin  and  English  schools,  and  by  this  inducement, 
as  early  as  1787,  caused  Mr.  Isaac  Wilson,  late  of  Philadelphia  College, 
as  he  describes  himself  in  an  advertisement  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette,4 
to  open  Lexington  Grammar  School;  but  State  patronage  of  higher 
education  came  even  earlier,  as  Transylvania  Seminary,  one  of  the  first5 
"publick  schools,"  or  seminaries,  of  learning  in  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
of  which  we  shall  hear  more  later,  was  endowed  by  an  act  of  the  Vir- 
ginia legislature  in  1780,  and  further  endowed  and  chartered  in  1783, 
and  other  foundations  and  endowments  by  the  mother  State  and  by 
Kentucky  herself  followed  rapidly,  until  soon  a  State  educational  system 
was  developed  quite  unusual  in  its  circumstances  and  quite  in  advance 
of  the  ideas  of  the  day  elsewhere,  in  this  country  at  least. 

The  main  thing  of  interest  in  Kentucky's  educational  history,  up  to 
about  1820,  is  the  development  of  this  splendid  system  of  higher  edu- 


1  For  the  incorporation  of  this  academy  see  Chapter  II,  p.  22.     The  first  adver- 
tisement of  this  school  in  the  Kentucky  (Gazette  occurs  on  November  29, 1788;  others 
occur  later.     For  something  of  Dr.  Priestly  and  the  school  of  Mr.  Shackleford,  see 
Collins,  Vol.  II,  pp.  35  and  200. 

2  United  States  of  America  and  the  West  Indies,  p.  156. 

3  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  443. 

4  In  the  issue  of  January  26,  1788,  which  says  the  school  is  again  opened.    The 
tuition  in  this  school,  as  in  most  others  of  its  class,  was  £4  per  annum  (the  pound 
being  equivalent  to  $3.33),  and  advertisements  state  that  good  boarding  could  be 
obtained  at  from  £8  to  £9  per  annum.     The  tuition  was  usually  paid  one-half  in 
cash,  the  other  in  property,  such  as  produce  of  various  kinds,  while  board  was  paid 
altogether  in  property. 

6  For  the  antiquity  of  this  school  see  Chapter  111. 


14  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

cation,  composed,  as  projected,  of  a  State  university  and  at  least  one 
subsidiary  academy  in  each  county,  and  probably  intended  to  be  supple- 
mented later  by  a  system  of  more  elementary  schools.  The  subsidiary 
academies  were  quite  fully  developed,  and  reached  their  culmination 
during  this  period,  while  Transylvania  University  was  fairly  inaugurated, 
and  the  foundations  laid  for  the  short  but  brilliant  career  upon  which  it 
was  about  to  enter.  The  more  elementary  schools  were,  however,  never 
connected  with  this  system,  and  have  only  been  established  in  any  per- 
fection in  quite  recent  years,  and  then  on  an  independent  basis. 

The  main  current  of  early  public  education  in  Kentucky  began  at 
the  top  and  extended  downward.  We  have  first  the  university  or  col- 
lege and  then  the  public  school.  This  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  as  it 
was,  as  a  rule,  true  in  all  the  older  States.  A  number  of  the  prominent 
men  among  the  early  Kentucky  settlers  were  themselves  college  men 
and  among  the  founders  of  colleges  in  Virginia.  Naturally  their  first 
attempt  to  promote  education  in  the  new  State,  according  to  the  pre- 
vailing ideas  of  the  time,  especially  in  Virginia,  from  which  most  of 
them  came,  took  shape  in  the  form  of  an  institution  of  higher  learning. 
It  was  remarkable,  however,  that  in  their  hands  this  institution  should 
have  been  planned  to  become  the  head  of  a  great  State  system  of  pub- 
lic education,  embracing  even  elementary  schools — a  conception  in 
advance  of  public  opinion  at  the  time,  in  this  country  at  least. 

PERIOD  FROM  1820  TO  1830. 

This  period  is  marked  by  the  downfall  of  the  magnificently  conceived 
university  system  of  which  we  have  just  been  speaking.  Even  before 
1820  the  system  of  correlated  academies  had  reached  its  culmination, 
and  had,  for  various  reasons,  been  acknowledged,  in  the  way  it  was 
being  conducted,  as  a  failure  by  discerning  public  men.  Soon  after 
that  date  the  plan  had  been  really  abandoned  as  a  State  enterprise. 
The  State  academies  did  not,  however,  disappear  at  once,  but  many  of 
them  continued  as  local  high  schools,  and  some  of  them  after  a  time 
even  developed  into  colleges.  Augusta,  Georgetown,1  and,  in  fact,  many 
of  the  earlier  colleges  of  the  State  were  built  upon  old  academies, 
whose  funds  they  inherited. 

Public  patronage,  between  1820  and  1830,  was  confined  almost  exclu- 
sively to  Transylvania  University,  which  under  Dr.  Holley's  adminis- 
tration, beginning  in  1818,  entered  upon  a  peculiarly  brilliant  and 
successful  era  of  its  history,  soon,  however,  to  have  its  prospects 
blighted  and  its  decline  brought  about  by  the  unfortunate  plan  of  its 

"Augusta  was  founded  on  Bracken  Academy  and  Georgetown  on  Eittenhouse 
Academy.  In  these  cases  the  older  academies  were  perhaps  more  prominent  than  in 
that  of  other  colleges,  but  Transylvania  University  grew  out  of  Transylvania 
Seminary  and  Centre  College  was  at  least  partially  based  on  Danville  Academy,  as 
was  Southern  College  on  Warren  Seminary,  while  Louisville  College  was  a  develop- 
ment of  Jeffersou  Seminary,  and  other  colleges  were  more  or  less  directly  connected 
with  older  academies. 


INTRODUCTION GENERAL    SKETCH.  15 

organization  and  the  state  of  public  opinion,  especially  in  regard  to 
religious  questions. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  institution  was  not,  as  in  the  case 
of  many  of  the  early  colleges  of  the  older  States,  founded  by  some 
church  organization,  mainly  to  prepare  young  men  for  the  ministry, 
but  that  it  was  founded  by  the  State  and  was  from  the  first  considered 
a  State  institution,  although  never  fully  under  direct  State  control,  and 
its  avowed  purpose,  as  expressed  in  its  first  charter,  was  to  prepare 
young  men  for  the  service  of  the  State.  The  way  in  which  it  was  man- 
aged, however,  presents  a  curious  blending  of  state  and  church  con- 
trol, for  it  was  also  founded  under  church  auspices,  and,  for  the  greater 
part  of  its  history,  was  under  quasi  denominational  management.  This 
double  management  by  church  and  state3  to  a  considerable  extent,  at 
one  time  or  another,  extended  throughout  the  whole  of  the  early  Ken- 
tucky university  system,  and,  especially  by  the  denominational  jealous- 
ies it  aroused,  had  ;i  very  disastrous  effect.  The  system's  plan  of 
management,  as  will  be  noted  later,  was  in  other  respects  also  not  such 
as  to  secure  the  greatest  responsibility  and  the  highest  efficiency. 

These  things  were  largely  instrumental  in  preventing  the  upbuilding 
of  a  grand  system  of  public  higher  education  and  in  causing  the  State 
to  withdraw  from  her  early  policy  of  liberality  toward  education. 
Kentucky  was  certainly  quite  liberal  toward  Transylvania  Seminary 
and  the  early  academies,  especially  in  the  matter  of  the  donation  of  / 
public  lands  and  the  exemption  of  these  from  taxation,  as  well  as  in  / 
her  direct  appropriations,  although  the  latter  were  never  large.  The! 
laud  grants  were,  however,  not  sufficient  to  make  the  system  self- 
sustaining  or  to  pledge  the  State  to  its  further  sustentation,  while  the 
control  assumed  and  the  responsibility  required  were  not  requisite  to 
secure  proper  efficiency.  When  the  original  plan  had  thus  been  wrecked, 
we  see  the  State  so  far  reversing  her  original  policy  that  for  a  long 
time  she  refused  to  make  adequate  provision  for  her  public  schools, 
and,  even  as  late  as  1865,  declined  to  give  the  fund  needed  to  make  the 
Congressional  laud  grant  of  18G2  for  agricultural  colleges  available  for 
the  highest  educational  uses,  but  left  it  to  a  denominational  institution 
to  make  for  her  the  most  out  of  the  limited  endowment  furnished  by 
the  General  Government. 

Even  during  the  period  we  are  now  considering  Transylvania  Uni- 
versity began  to  lose  her  hold  upon  the  public  good  will,  and  denomina- 
tional colleges  began  to  spring  up,  as  so  many  centers  of  opposition, 
and  to  compete  with  the  university  for  public  patronage.  Centre  and 
St.  Joseph's  in  1819,  St.  Mary's  in  1821,  Augusta  in  1822,  Cumberland 
in  1826,  and  Georgetown  in  1829,  arose  in  rapid  succession.  Their 
competition  was  not  greatly  felt  for  a  time,  but  was  destined  to  grow 
to  strong  proportions  in  the  succeeding  period. 

The  failure  of  the  academy  system  did,  however,  cause  public  atten- 
tion, even  during  this  period,  to  be  turned  to  the  need  of  elementary 


1 6  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

schools,  and  public  opinion  was  sufficiently  aroused,  on  the  question  t 
cause  the  legislature  of  1821  to  appoint  a  commission  to  investigate  th 
subject  and  to  report  upon  it  to  that  body.  This  commission,  compose 
of  Hon^jWilliam  T.  Barry  and  other  prominent  public  men,  made,  i 
1822,  an  able  report  in  favor  of  a  system  of  public  schools,  embody  in 
excellent  ideas  in  regard  to  how  it  could  be  inaugurated.  The  legist 
ture  was  also  induced  to  create  a  small  literary  fund  to  support  such 
system,  but  nothing  further  was  then  accomplished. 

PERIOD  1830  TO  1850. 

Prior  to  the  beginning  of  this  period,  Transylvania  University  ha 
been  abandoned  by  the  State  in  so  far  as  the  bestowal  of  public  patroi 
age  was  concerned,  although  nominal  legislative  control  was  sti 
retained.  The  neglect  of  the  State  was,  however,  somewhat  supplie 
by  private  and  local  munificence,  and  the  University  long  remaine 
eminently  useful,  especially  through  its  professional  departments,  bu 
it  may  be  said  to  have  now  entered  into  a  condition  of  gradual  decline 

Several  attempts  were  made  during  this  time  to  resurrect  its  prowes 
under  partial  denominational  control.  Baptists,  Episcopalians,  Pm 
byterians,  and  lastly  Methodists  were  successively  called  to  the  aid  c 
its  waning  fortunes,  but,  as  a  rule,  with  indifferent  success,  althoug 
the  powerful  church  influence  which  Dr.  Bascom  was  able  to  bring  t 
its  assistance  for  a  time  seemed  to  revive  the  university's  departe 
glories.  When  this,  too,  had  to  be  withdrawn,  in  1849,  it  sank  eve 
lower  than  before. 

The  peculiar  feature  of  the  period  between  1830  and  1850  was  th 
development  and  further  multiplication  of  denominational  colleges, 
movement  already  begun  in  the  previous  period  partly  in  oppositio 
to  Transylvania  University  and  partly  to  supply  needs  which  it  coul 
not  then  meet. 

It  now  became  the  settled  policy  of  each  important  denomination  i 
the  State  to  have  its  own  representative  institution.  Several  ( 
these  had  already  been  founded,  but  had  not  been  strong  competitoi 
of  the  university,  owing  to  their  lack  of  funds  and  equipment.  Thes 
were  now  strengthened  and  others  established,  so  that  most  of  the  pron 
inent  denominational  colleges  of  the  State  may  be  said  to  date  thei 
existence  or  their  importance  as  educational  factors  from  this  perioc 
Centre,  St.  Joseph's,  and  Augusta,  especially,  soon  began  to  be  we 
known,  and  others,  as  Bacon  and  Shelby  in  1836,  were  founded.  Th; 
movement  continued  until,  Collins  tells  us  in  his  Sketches,1  in  184 
Kentucky  had  more  colleges  than  any  other  State  in  the  Union. 

Special  professional  schools,  especially  of  medicine,  also  began  to  I 
established.  The  first  of  these  to  amount  to  anything  was  the  Louii 
ville  Medical  Institute,  now  the'  medical  department  of  the  Universit 
of  Louisville,  founded  in  1837,  as  a  direct  competitor  of  the  medics 
department  of  Transylvania  University. 


Sketches  of  Kentucky,  p.  272. 


INTRODUCTION GENERAL    SKETCH.  17 

The  founding  of  denominational  institutions  and  of  special  profes- 
sional schools  has  continued  through  all  the  subsequent  educational 
history  of  the  State  and  has  led  to  an  unfortunate  multiplicity  of  new 
and  separate  institutions,  whereas  an  enlargement  of  those  a,  ready  exist- 
ing would  have  been  far  more  preferable.  One  result  has  been  that 
although  the  name  has  been  frequently  used,  there  has  never  been  a 
real  university  in  the  State,  even  in  the  extensive  use  of  the  term,  with 
all  the  usual  departments  and  a  complete  faculty  and  equipment  in  each. 
Another  result  has  been  that  the  colleges  of  the  State  have  been  quite 
insufficiently  endowed.  The  State  has  never  fully  committed  herself  to 
the  policy  of  sustaining  a  well-endowed  university,  while  other  institu- 
tions have  become  too  numerous  to  receive  large  amounts  from  local  and 
denominational  beneficence  which  has  been  the  source  of  almost  all  of 
the  endowment  of  the  various  institutions.  !No  single  individual,  either 
within  or  without  the  State,  has  given  a  large  amount  to  any  single 
institution,  and  almost  all  that  has  been  contributed  has  been  given 
wholly  by  the  people  of  the  State,  principally  through  the  various  reli- 
gious denominations.  Various  communities  have  contributed  with  great 
liberality  to  institutions  located  in  their  midst  without  regard  to  denom- 
inational connections,  and  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  Methodists,  Christ- 
ians, and  other  denominations  have  done  nobly  for  their  respective 
institutions,  but  local  demand  or  denominational  jealousy  has  called 
into  existence  a  multitude  of  colleges,  each  of  whose  share  in  the  general 
bounty  has  been  necessarily  small  among  a  people  generally  well-to-do 
but  not  wealthy.  The  funds  received  have  usually  only  been  sufficient 
to  give  them  fairly  good  buildings  and  equipment,  but  have  left  them 
no  endowment.  So  they  have  had  to  struggle  on,  mainly  supported  by 
tuition  fees,  many  of  the  older  institutions  of  the  State  having  been, 
during  the  greater  part  of  their  history,  rich  only  in  the  spirit  of  devo- 
tion to  sound  learning. 

The  fact  that  Kentucky  colleges  have  been  so  largely  unendowed 
mainly  accounts  for  the  many  ups  and  downs  in  their  history.  As  long 
as  local  and  denominational  influence  and  their  own  good  work  have 
kept  their  halls  filled  with  students  they  have  had  fair  success,  but 
when,  for  any  reason,  the  number  of  their  students  has  declined,  they 
have  declined  in  like  manner,  and  the  history  of  the  State  is  strewn  with 
the  wrecks  of  educational  enterprises.  Cumberland,  Shelby,  Eminence, 
and  others  are  so  many  examples  of  a  checkered  career,  ending  finally 
in  dissolution. 

Lack  of  endowment  and  strong  competition  have  also  compelled 
most  of  the  colleges  to  do  a  great  deal  of  what  is  really  preparatory 
and  not  college  work,  which  has  hampered  their  usefulness  and  neces 
sarily  vitiated  their  standard  to  a  considerable  extent.    This  we  shall 
see  applies  especially  to  the  female  colleges  of  the  State,  which  arose 
mainly  in  the  period  succeeding  the  one  we  are  now  considering,  and  for 
whose  multiplicity  we  shall  see  there  have  been  special  reasons. 
2127— No.  25 2 


18  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

The  period  of  which  we  are  now  speaking  also  witnesses  the  first 
inception  of  a  State  public-school  system.  The  law  of  1838  established 
this  in  a  rather ~ini perfect  form  it  is  true,  but  gave  to  it  what  was  a 
great  gain — a  regular  organization.  Its  operations  were  greatly 
hindered  for  some  time  by  the  smallness  of  the  "literary  fund  "  upon 
which  it  was  based  and  by  the  fact  that  this  fund  was  not  properly 
husbanded;  but  the  system  made  really  substantial  progress  during 
this  time  in  the  crystallization  of  public  opinion  in  its  favor,  and 
especially  in  the  fact  that  the  "  literary  fund,"  by  the  third  constitu- 
tion of  the  State,  which  went  into  effect  in  1850,  was  inviolably  devoted 
to  public- school  education. 

PERIOD  FROM  1850  TO  1870. 

This  era  is  noticeable  for  an  unsuccessful  attempt,  made  in  1856,  to 
revive  Transylvania  University  as  a  State  institution  in  the  form  of  a 
State  normal  school — a  much-needed  addition  to  the  public-school 
system.  After  a  short  trial  of  two  years,  owing  to  the  lack  of  proper 
public  support,  this  effort  had  to  be  abandoned,  and  the  history  of  the 
university  as  in  any  sense  a  State  institution  was  ended.  After  this 
it  sank  into  a  school  of  merely  secondary  rank. 

Again,  an  attempt  was  made  in  1865  to  build  on  its  ruins  a  great 
university  in  the  name  of  the  State,  but  really  under  what  was 
denominational,  but  not  intended  to  be  sectarian,  control.  This  plan 
was  splendidly  devised  and  seemed  for  a  time  likely  to  succeed,  but  it, 
too,  was  doomed  to  be  wrecked.  So  Kentucky  University,  instead  of 
becoming  what  it  promised  to  be,  an  institution  overshadowing  all 
others,  was  forced  to  take  the  position  simply  of  one  of  the  principal 
colleges  of  the  State. 

Special  professional  schools  have,  during  this  and  the  subsequent 
period,  continued  to  increase  in  numbers,  especially  at  Louisville,  until 
that  city,  with  its  six  medical  colleges  and  other  professional  institu- 
tions, has  become  one  of  the  largest  centers  of  professional  education 
in  the  country. 

The  further  multiplication  of  denominational  institutions  also  con- 
tinued apace.  Female  colleges  especially,  whose  numbers  up  to  this 
time  had  been  comparatively  unimportant,  were  founded  in  rapid  suc- 
cession, and  soon  became  so  numerous  that  almost  every  prominent 
denomination  in  the  State  had  two  or  more  representative  institutions. 
In  addition  to  these  many  communities  founded  local  institutions  to 
supply  their  own  needs,  which,  as  a  rule,  unfortunately  aspired  to 
become  colleges.  This  of  course  led  to  sharp  competition  and  in  many 
cases  to  unsound  educational  methods  and  practices. 

The  number  of  female  colleges  particularly  which  have  been  estab- 
lished in  Kentucky  since  about  1850  has  become  almost  legion,  their  mul- 
tiplicity being  due  partly  to  the  fact,  as  noted  later,  that  girls  were  for  a 
long  time  excluded  from  almost  all  the  institutions  of  higher  learning  in 


INTRODUCTION — GENERAL    SKETCH.  19    - 

the  State,  and  partly  from  the  fact  that  in  so  far  as  it  was  deemed  neces- 
sary for  them  to  be  educated  at  all  it  was  thought  that  their  education 
should  be  more  of  an  ornamental  character  and  otherwise  of  a  different 
type  from  that  pursued  by  boys.  These  circumstances,  in  conjunction 
with  the  inefficiency  of  the  public-school  system  for  a  long  time  and 
the  consequent  demand  of  localities  for  institutions  suited  to  their 
own  peculiar  needs,  have  caused  a  large  number  of  female  schools  to 
spring  up,  which  unfortunately  have  in  most  cases  been  ambitious  to 
be  colleges,  at  least  in  name,  and  to  confer  diplomas  if  not  degrees. 
Almost  every  school  for  girls  in  the  State  either  bears  the  name  of 
college  or  claims  to  do  college  work ;  in  reality  the  work  done  by  most 
of  them  is  largely  secondary  and  even  to  some  extent  primary.  No 
attempt  has  been  made  in  this  monograph  to  give  the  history  of  all 
these  schools.  Only  those  have  been  treated  a  considerable  part  of 
whose  work  appears  to  be  of  collegiate  rank.  As  it  has  been  found 
very  difficult  to  apply  any  absolute  line  of  demarkation,  it  is  probable 
that  a  number  of  institutions  have  been  omitted  quite  as  worthy  of 
notice  perhaps  as  some  of  those  treated,  but  in  general  the  same  line 
of  division  has  been  followed  as  that  used  of  late  in  the  reports l  of  the 
United  States  Commissioner  of  Education. 

In  one  respect  particularly  a  great  educational  advance  was  made 
in  Kentucky  between  1850  and  1870.  The  public-school  system  may 
in  that  period  be  said  to  have  first  become  firmly  established  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people  of  the  State,  largely  through  the  efforts  of  State 
Superintendent  Breckin ridge  in  its  behalf,  and  an  educated  public  sen- 
timent, aroused  by  him  and  others,  called  forth  the  act  of  1869,  which 
made  public  education  really  effective  by  granting  it,  by  State  taxa- 
tion, a  more  ample  revenue.  The  opening  of  the  educational  year  1870 
marks  the  practical  establishment  of  an  effective  public-school  system 
in  Kentucky. 

PERIOD  SUBSEQUENT  TO  1870. 

This  is  especially  noted  for  the  continual  growth  of  a  sound  public' 
opinion  upon  almost  all  educational  questions. 

An  enlightened  public  sentiment  has  of  late  caused  the  State  to 
return  to  her  early  liberal  attitude  toward  public  education,  and  no 
just  complaint  can  now  be  made  in  regard  to  the  way  she  supports  the 
one  institution  she  still  controls — the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Col- 
lege— or  her  public-school  system.  All  school  property  has  lately  been 
exempted  from  taxation,2  and  the  State  college  now  receives  a  liberal 
contribution  in  the  form  of  a  regular  State  tax,  while  the  effectiveness 
of  the  public  schools  has  been  greatly  increased  by  considerable  addi- 

1  These  reports  class  female  colleges  under  division  A,  embracing  a  few  institu- 
tions of  the  highest  rank,  such  as  Wellesley  and  Vassar,  and  division  B,  which 
includes  all  others.     All  tho  female  colleges  of  Kentucky  come  under  division  B. 

2  According  to  the  provisions  of  the  constitution  of  1891,  as  interpreted  by  a  recent 
decision  of  the  court  of  appeals. 


20  HISTORY   OF   HIGHER   EDUCATION    IN   KENTUCKY. 

tious  to  the  "literary  fund"  and  also  by  increasing  the  State  tax  levied 
for  the  support  of  the  system.  This  attitude  of  the  State  is  a  charac- 
teristic feature  of  the  present  period,  but  is  not  the  only  one  of  interest. 

A  system  of  graded  schools  has  also  been  established,  by  the  aid  of 
additional  local  taxation,  in  all  the  towns  and  cities  of  any  size  in  the 
State.  This  largely  supplies  a  pressing  need  for  secondary  instruction, 
and  also  relieves  the  colleges  of  the  necessity  of  maintaining  at  least 
such  large  preparatory  departments  as  formerly. 

Most  of  the  colleges,  moreover,  have  largely  added  to  their  endow- 
ments within  the  past  few  years  through  private  and  denominational 
gifts.  Several  of  them  now  have  fairly  good  endowments  for  the  work 
they  undertake. 

Many  of  the  male  colleges  have  of  late  opened  their  doors  to  women 
as  well.  This  has  continued  so  far  that  coeducation  may  now  be  said 
to  be  almost  a  generally  accepted  policy  in  the  State.  It  has  had  at 
least  one  good  effect  in  obviating  the  necessity  of  the  further  multipli- 
cation of  female  colleges. 

Quite  a  contrary  and  hopeful  movement  has  even  taken  place  lately 
in  the  conversion  of  several  of  these  colleges  into  avowedly  secondary 
schools,  and  the  founding  of  such  schools  in  various  communities  where 
formerly  the  establishment  of  a  college  would  have  been  attempted. 
The  opening  of  the  Vanderbilt  Training  School  at  Elkton,  and  of  the 
various  preparatory  schools  of  Central  University  and  Kentucky  Wes- 
leyan  College,  are  so  many  illustrations  of  this  praiseworthy  spirit.  A 
commendable  disposition  has  also  been  shown  to  stop  the  further  found- 
ing of  separate  professional  schools,  as  those  lately  established  have 
been  opened  in  conjunction  with  the  older  colleges,  and  the  older  pro- 
fessional schools  have  shown  a  tendency  to  affiliate  with  established 
institutions  for  which  they  furnish  professional  departments,  as  was 
illustrated  in  November,  1897,  when  the  Kentucky  School  of  Medicine 
became  the  medical  department  of  Kentucky  University. 

Several  of  the  colleges  of  Kentucky  have  always  been  noted  for 
their  attachment  to  sound  scholarship.  Fortunately  these,  as  a  rule, 
have  been  able  to  increase  their  endowments  along  with  others.  So 
while  higher  education  in  Kentucky  is  still  considerably  hampered  by 
a  too  great  multiplicity  of  colleges  and  their  consequent  lack  of  ample 
endowments,  yet  its  condition  is  one  of  greater  hopefulness  for  the 
future.  The  needs  of  the  public  school  system  of  the  State  will  be 
more  fully  noticed  in  another  connection,  but  it,  too,  may  be  truthfully 
said  to  be  making  favorable  progress. 


Chapter   II. 

SOME  INTERESTING  FEATURES  OF  EARLY  EDUCATION. 


A   STATE  UNIVERSITY   SYSTEM. 

This  system,  which  has  already  been  referred  to  as  one  of  the  strik- 
ing features  of  the  early  educational  history  of  Kentucky,  may  be  said 
to  have  had  its  beginning  in  the  act  of  the  Virginia  assembly,  of  May 
1780,  endowing  Transylvania  Seminary.  For  while  the  plan  had  not 
then  been  originated,  and  this  school  was  soon  to  develop  into  Transyl- 
vania University,  and  become,  in  a  sense,  the  head  of  the  system  after 
this  transformation,  yet  it  was  at  first  intended  to  be  of  the  same  char- 
acter as  that  afterwards  taken  by  the  other  seminaries  or  academies 
(these  words  are  always  synonymous  in  early  Kentucky  educational 
history),  the  first  part  of  the  general  plan  to  be  fully  developed,  and 
was  the  model  for  the  others  in  its  original  conception  and  especially 
in  the  method  of  its  endowment  by  the  State. 

The  original  endowment  act  of  Transylvania  Seminary  seems  to  have 
been  copied  largely  in  all  of  the  first,  at  least,  of  the  later  academy  acts. 
This  act,1  for  its  spirit  if  for  nothing  else,  is  worthy  of  being  quoted  at 
length.  It  reads  as  follows : 

AYhereas  it  is  represented  to  the  general  assembly  that  there  are  certain  lands 
within  the  county  of  Kentucky,  formerly  belonging  to  British  subjects,  not  yet  sold 
under  the  law  of  escheats  and  forfeitures,  which  might  at  a  future  day  be  a  valuable 
fund  for  the  maintenance  and  education  of  youth,  and  it  being  the  interest  of  this 
Commonwealth  always  to  promote  and  encourage  every  design  which  may  tend  to 
tliB  improvement  of  the  mind  and  the  diffusion  of  useful  knowledge,  even  among  its 
remote  citizens,  whose  situation  a  barbarous  neighborhood  and  a  saA^age  intercourse 
might  otherwise  render  unfriendly  to  science:  Be  it  therefore  enacted,  That  8,000 
acres  of  land  within  the  said  county  of  Kentucky,  late  the  property  of  Robert 
McKenzie,  Henry  Collins,  and  Alexander  McKee,  be;  and  the  same  are  hereby,  vested 
in  William  Fleming,  William  Christian,  John  Todd,  Stephen  Trigg,  Benjamin  Logan, 
John  Floyd,  John  May,  Levi  Todd,  John  Cowan,  George  Meriwether,  John  Cobbs, 
George  Thompson,  and  Edmund  Taylor,  trustees,  as  a  free  donation  from  this  Com- 
monwealth for  the  purpose  of  a  public  school,  or  seminary  of  learning,  to  be  erected 
within  the  said  county  as  soon  as  the  circumstances  of  the  county  and  the  state 
of  its  funds  will  admit,  and  for  no  other  use  or  purpose  whatsoever. 

Thus  was  planned  the  first  school  in  Kentucky  established  under 
State  patronage  and  one  which,  at  the  time  of  its  establishment  soon 
afterwards,  was  truly  in  a  "barbarous  neighborbood  "  in  so  far  as  the 
proximity  of  Indian  warriors  was  concerned. 


See  references  to  this  act  in  Chapter  III. 

21 


22  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

The  need  of  such  an  institution,  and  the  plan  of  securing-  its  endow- 
ment seem  to  have  been  first  seen  by  the  Kev.  John  Todd,  a  prominent 
Presbyterian  minister  of  Louisa  County,  Va.,  and  his  nephew,  Col. 
John  Todd,1  then  a  representative  from  the  county  of  Kentucky  in  the 
Virginia  assembly.  The  advice  and  influence  of  the  former,  coupled 
with  the  ability  and  efforts  of  the  latter,  seem,  mainly  at  least,  to  have 
induced  the  legislature  to  pass  the  act  of  endowment,  an  act  in  advance 
of  Virginia's  usual  educational  policy  at  that  day  and  the  more  unusual 
as  occurring  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the  most  gloomy  periods  of  the 
Eevolution  and  one  specially  trying  to  her.  The  Todds  are  therefore 
to  be  given  the  very  highest  praise  for  the  inception  of  the  plan,  and 
their  names  should  for  all  time  to  come  be  placed  high  on  Kentucky's 
roll  of  honor. 

Transylvania  Seminary  was  further  endowed  and  incorporated  in 
May,  1 783, 2  owing,  as  we  shall  see,  largely  to  the  influence  and  efforts 
of  Judge  Caleb  Wallace,  when  its  endowment  was  exempted  from  taxa- 
tion by  the  State,  the  latter  being  another  feature  of  its  organization 
appearing  in  the  general  academy  plan.  These  are  the  principal  ways 
in  which  this  seminary  may  have  influenced  the  founding  of  the  acad- 
emies, and  so  its  history  will  not  be  traced  further  in  this  connection. 

The  first  of  the  academies,  subsequently  appearing  as  a  part  of  the 
regular  system,  of  which  we  hear  is  Salem  Academy,  located  at  Bards- 
town  and  incorporated  by  Virginia  in  1788.  •  It  does  not  seem,  at  that 
time,  to  have  received  any  land  endowment,  though  it  did  later  from 
Kentucky  herself,  and  seems  for  a  time  to  have  been  a  private  or  local 
classical  high  school.  In  this  capacity,  we  have  seen,4  it  obtained  quite 
a  reputation  under  the  noted  Dr.  James  Priestly  as  master.  It  was 
later  incorporated  into  the  general  academy  system.  Indeed,  it  seems 
that  when  this  system  had  come  into  full  operation  schools  of  higher 
education,  supported  merely  by  private  or  local  means,  were  generally 
forced  by  its  competition  either  to  become  part  of  the  system  or  to  sus- 
pend operations. 

The  first  acts  of  the  Kentucky  legislature  on  the  subject  of  acade- 
mies are  the  act  of  December  12,  1794,5  incorporating  Kentucky 
Academy  at  Pisgah,  near  Lexington;  one  soon  after,  of  uncertain 
date,6  incorporating  Bethel  Academy,  in  Jessamine  County,  and  a  third, 
on  December  15, 1795,7  establishing  Franklin  Academy  at  Washington, 


:  For  the  connection  of  the  Todds,  and  also  of  Judge  Wallace,  with  the  founding 
of  this  seminary,  see  Foote's  Sketches  of  Virginia,  second  series,  pp.  47-48.  Further 
references  to  Colonel  Todd  are  found  in  Chapter  III. 

References  to  this  act  are  given  in  Chapter  III. 

'Littell's  Laws  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  579. 

4  In  Chapter  I,  p.  13,  where  references  are  given  in  regard  to  Dr.  Priestly's  connec- 
tion with  it. 

5  For  this  act  see  Chapter  III. 

6  A  note  in  regard  to  this  act  is  to  be  found  in  Chapter  VII. 

7  LittelFs  Laws  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  pp.  296-298. 


SOME    INTERESTING    FEATURES    OF    EARLY    EDUCATION.          23 

in  Mason  County.  These  acts  were  similar  in  scope  to  the  Transyl- 
vania Seminary  act  of  1783,  but  gave  no  endowment  of  public  land  as 
that  had  done. 

The  first  really  important  acts  connected  with  the  academy  system 
proper  are  the  two  acts  of  February  18,  1798,  the  first l  of  which  rein- 
corporated  Bethel  Academy,  giving  it  the  plan  of  management  subse- 
quently used  for  the  later  academies,  the  second 2  of  which  endowed 
Kentucky,  Franklin,  Salem,  and  Bethel  academies,  and  Lexington  and 
Jefferson  seminaries  (the  last  two  established  by  the  act  at  Lexington 
and  Louisville,  respectively),  with  6,000  acres  of  land  each,  to  be  vested 
in  cooptative  boards  of  trustees,  as  provided  for  in  the  case  of  Bethel, 
and  to  be  held  free  from  taxes. 

The  Bethel  act  gave  to  the  trustees  uall  powers  and  privileges  that 
are  enjoyed  by  trustees,  governors,  or  visitors  of  any  college  or  univer- 
sity within  this  State  not  herein  limited  or  otherwise  directed."  The 
president  of  the  academy  was  also  required  to  be  "a  man  of  the 
most  approved  abilities  in  literature."  As  shown  by  various  advertise- 
ments and  notices  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette  and  elsewhere,  "Latin, 
Greek,  and  the  different  branches  of  science"3  were  required  to  be 
taught  in  at  least  most  of  these  academies,  thus  furnishing  to  their 
students  the  elements  of  a  fairly  good  classical  education,  not  much 
emphasis,  as  a  rule,  being  put  upon  the  sciences.  The  powers  con- 
ferred upon  the  academies  by  their  acts  of  incorporation  were  sufficient 
for  their  conversion  into  colleges  without  any  further  change  of  charter, 
as  actually  occurred  in  some  instances. 

The  second  act  of  February  10,  1798,  itself,  and  especially  the  senti- 
ment of  its  latter  part,  should  add  imperishable  renown  both  to  its 
promoter  and  to  the  legislature  that  passed  it.  The  last  part  of  sections 
5  and  G  of  the  act  read  as  follows : 

And  whereas  it  is  generally  true  that  people  will  be  happiest  whose  laws  are  best 
and  best  administered,  and  that  laws  will  be  wisely  and  honestly  administered 
in  proportion  as  those  who  form  and  administer  them  are  wise  and  honest;  whence 
it  becomes  expedient  for  promoting  the  public  happiness  that  those  persons  whom 


1  Toulmiu's  Acts  of  Kentucky,  pp.  469-470,  and  Littell's  Laws  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  II, 
p.  174. 

2Toulruin's  Acts  of  Kentucky,  pp.  470-472;  Littell's  Laws  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  II, 
pp.  107-109,  and  Bradford's  Laws  of  Kentucky,  Vol  I,  pp.  100-102. 

:;From  the  advertisement  of  Lexington  Grammar  School  on  January  26,  1788. 
This  and  such  advertisements  as  that  of  Rev.  Mr.  Craig,  on  January  5,  1788,  which 
speaks  of  "the  teaching  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages,  together  with  such 
branches  of  the  sciences  as  are  usually  taught  in  public  seminaries,"  indicate  in  a 
general  w.ay  what  was  actually  taught.  The  general  act  of  incorporation  of 
December  22,  1798,  says  (Toulmiu's  Acts  of  Kentucky,  p.  474) :  "It  shall  be  left 
wholly  in  the  discretion  of  the  said  several  trustees  what  subjects  shall  be  taught  in 
the  said  several  academies,  whether  the  English  languages,  writing,  arithmetic, 
mathematics,  and  geometry  only;  or  the  dead  and  foreign  languages  and  the 
other  sciences  which  are  generally  taught  in  other  academies  or  colleges  in  this 
Commonwealth." 


24  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

nature  bath  endowed  with  genius  and  virtue  should  be  rendered,  by  liberal  educa- 
tion, worthy  to  receive  and  able  to  guard  the  sacred  deposit  of  the  rights  and  lib- 
erties of  their  fellow-citizens,  and  that  to  aid  and  accelerate  this  most  desirable 
purpose  must  be  one  of  the  first  duties  of  every  wise  government.  (Sec.  6.)  Be 
it  therefore  enacted,  That  all  the  lands  within  the  bounds  of  this  Commonwealth, 
on  the  south  side  of  Cumberland  River  below  Obey's  River,  which  are  now  vacant 
and  unappropriated,  or  on  which  there  shall  not^  be,  at  the  passage  of  this  act,  any 
actual  settler  under  the  laws  of  this  State  for  the  relief  of  settlers  south  of  (Jreen 
River,  shall  be,  and  the  same  are  hereby,  reserved  by  the  general  assembly  to  be 
appropriated,  as  they  may  hereafter  from  time  to  time  think  fit,  to  the  use  of  semi- 
naries of  learning  throughout  the  different  parts  of  this  Commonwealth. 

We  certainly  have  here  an  epoch-making  act,  one  which  is  in  general 
on  the  model  of  the  great  ordinance  of  1787  (in  regard  to  the  Northwest 
Territory),  by  which  it  may  have  been  influenced,  but  its  spirit  seems 
rather  to  have  been  drawn  from  that  of  the  old  Virginia  land  grants  to 
Transylvania  Seminary.  It  is  certainly  a  noteworthy  thing,  for  the 
time,  to  see  a  State  thus  setting  apart  a  considerable  area  of  its  lauds 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  system  of  public  secondary  and  higher 
education.  This  is  certainly  an  important  enunciation  of  principle,  but 
it  was  not  simply  to  be  a  barren  announcement  of  a  theoretical  attitude 
toward  education  in  the  future,  but  was  soon  to  bear  substantial  fruit. 

Winchester  Academy,  in  the  town  of  the  same  name,  was  established 
and  endowed  on  the  same  plan  and  in  the  same  way  by  an  act  of  Decem- 
ber 19, 1798,1  and  on  December  22, 1798,  were  passed  two  acts,  the  first2 
in  reference  to  Bourbon  Academy  and  the  second :!  in  reference  to  nine- 
teen others,  which,  especially  if  taken  in  connection  with  an  act  of  the 
same  date  incorporating  Transylvania  University,  are  the  culmina- 
tion and  completion  of  all  the  previous  academy  acts,  contemplating 
as  they  do  a  grand  State  university  system.  They  are  really  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  acts  of  the  previous  February,  which  serve  as  pream- 
bles to  them,  but  are  of  wider  import,  and  so  more  remarkable  and 
epoch  making.  The  act  establishing  Transylvania  University,  occur- 
ring as  it  does  on  the  same  day,  it  certainly  seems  should  be  taken  in 
close  conjunction  with  them,  all  being  parts  of  one  general  plan. 

These  acts  endow  as  before,  out  of  the  reservation  previously  set 
aside,  the  twenty  academies  named  with  6,000  acres  of  land  each,  and 
also  confer  on  each  board  of  trustees  the  right  to  raise  by  lottery — a 
very  common  practice  in  those  days  and  one  considered  by  the  best 
people  as  legitimate4— $1,000  to  pay  for  locating  the  lands  and  other 
preliminary  expenses.  Section  3  of  the  second  act  establishes  the  geu- 


1  Littell's  Laws  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  II,  p.  217. 
"Ibid,  Vol.  II,  p. 237. 

3  Toulmin's  Acts  of  Kentucky,  pp.  473-475,  and  Littell's  Laws  of  Kentucky,  Vol. 
II,  pp.  240-246. 

4  For  instance,  some  of  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  the  State  were,  on  February 
4,  1812,  authorized  to  raise  $4,000  by  lottery  to  complete  a  church  on  the  public 
square  at  Frankfort.     (Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  pp.  26-27.)     Another 
example  of  the  moral  ideas  of  the  time  is  given  in  a  notice  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette 
of  August  20,  1788,  which  oft'ers  to  give  whisky  for  the  erection  of  a  church. 


SOME    INTERESTING    FEATURES    OF    EARLY    EDUCATION.          25 

eral  principle  of  granting  a  similar  landed  endowment  by  the  State  to 
academies  in  each  county,  by  conferring  upon  the  several  county 
courts,  in  the  counties  having  no  academies,  the  right  to  a  donation  of 
G.I  MM)  acres  of  land  each,  and  does  not  even  confine  them  to  the  Cum- 
berland River  reservation,  but  says  they  may  locate  their  donation  for 
academies  that  may  be  established  on  4<any  waste  and  unappropriated 
laud." 

The  part  of  the  charter  of  Transylvania  University  to  be  taken  in 
connection  with  this  general  academy  act  is  section  3,  which,  after 
stating;  that  the  seat  of  the  university  may  be  moved  from  Lexington 
by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  trustees,  adds,  "and,  on  the  concurrence 
of  the  same  number,  they  may,  from  time  to  time,  establish  at  the  seat 
of  the  university,  or  elsewhere,  one  or  more  schools  as  nurseries  of  the 
said  university."  Circumstances  seem  to  indicate  that  this  had  refer- 
ence to  the  academy  plan  established  at  the  same  time  and  that  it  was 
aimed  to  make  Transylvania  University  the  head  of  a  splendid  scheme 
of  public  higher  education,  consisting  of  a  central  State  university 
with  correlated  preparatory  academies  in  every  county  of  the  State — 
truly  a  noble  conception,  for  the  main  credit  of  which  Judge  Caleb 
Wallace's  biographer1  thinks  he  is  undoubtedly  entitled.  If  the  act  of 
February  10,  17U8,  -'contains  in  its  closing  sections  certain  sentiments 
and  provisions  that  reflect  enduring  luster  on  the  State  of  Kentucky,772 
it  is  certainly  no  great  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  combined  acts  of 
December  22.  1798.  ••  established  the  most  enlightened,  practical,  and 
complete  system  of  education  that  could  at  that  time  be  witnessed  in 
America  or  perhaps  anywhere  else  in  the  civilized  world/73  and  that 
there  are  no  brighter  pages  in  the  statute  books  of  Kentucky  than 
those  that  record  these  acts. 

As  already  indicated,  no  doubt  the  main  influence  in  the  passage  of 
these  acts  was  that  of  Judge  Caleb  Wallace,  one  of  the  early  justices 
of  the  supreme  court  of  Kentucky.  While  a  resident  of  Virginia  he 
had  been  among  the  founders  of  what  are  now  flampden  Sidney  Col- 
lege and  Washington  and  Lee  University.4  and.  on  coming  to  Kentucky, 
had  become  a  member  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Transylvania  Semi- 
nary in  1783.  when,  as  a  member  of  the  Virginia  legislature  from  Ken- 
tucky, he  secured  its  reendowment  and  first  incorporation.  He  later 
became  a  trustee  of  Kentucky  Academy,  and,  in  1798,  was  laboring  to 
build  up  the  latter  institution  by  securing  for  it  an  ample  landed  endow- 
ment. He  was  also  one  of  the  principal  promoters  of  its  union  with 
Transylvania  Seminary  into  Transylvania  University,  and  seems  to  be 

1  Rev.  W.  H.  Whitsitt,  D.  D..  LL.  D..  ex-president  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Theolog- 
ical Seminary.  Louisville,  Ky..  in  his  Life  and  Times  of  Judge  Caleb  Wallace,  Louis- 
ville, 1888. 

-  Whitsitt's  Life  and  Times  of  Judge  Wallace,  p.  130. 
:.  p.  135. 

onnection  with  these  institutions  see  Foote's  Sketches  of 
Virginia,  first  series,  pp.  393-3&T,  442-4U.  an. 


26  HISTORY   OF   HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

the  one  who  conceived  the  magnificent  university  system  of  which  we 
have  just  been  speaking.  We  also  have  reason  to  believe  that  he  con- 
teuiplated  the  later  addition  to  the  system  of  public  elementary  schools 
which  would,  according  to  his  ideas  and  those  generally  prevalent  at 
the  time,  form  the  capstone  of  this  beautiful  educational  structure. 
The  part  he  played  in  the  early  educational  history  of  Kentucky  enti- 
tles his  name  to  be  placed  even  higher  than  that  of  the  Todds  among 
the  State's  benefactors,  as  he  had  even  wider  conceptions  than  they  of 
the  State's  educational  needs  and  of  the  means  of  supplying  them.  It 
can  in  no  wise  be  ascribed  to  any  fault  of  his  that  his  splendid  ideas 
were  never  fully  realized ;  yet  such  was  unfortunately  the  case.  This 
grand  system,  so  auspiciously  planned,  was  never  to  be  put  into  oper- 
ation as  a  whole,  and,  as  such,  developed  in  all  its  capabilities,  and 
was  soon  to  be  recognized  as  a  failure. 

Other  academies  were  rapidly  established  and  that  part  of  the  system 
was  in  quite  full  operation  for  a  time,  the  movement  continuing  until 
1820  or  later,  by  which  time  as  many  as  forty-seven  county  academies 
had  been  established  and  endowed  with  from  6,000  to  12,000  acres  of 
land  each,  usually  with  the  former  amount.  Evidences  of  the  lack  of 
public  interest  in  the  system  and  its  ill  success,  however,  soon  began 
to  appear  in  the  frequent  bills  passed  by  the  legislature  allowing  more 
time  for  the  location  of  the  academy  lands  and  appointing  new  trustees 
where  the  old  ones  had  resigned  or  acted  improperly.  A  tendency  to 
get  more  and  more  out  from  under  State  control  soon  displayed  itself 
on  the  part  of  the  trustees  by  their  getting  greater  and  greater  rights 
in  regard  to  the  disposal  of  the  land  endowments,  until  finally,  by  an 
act  of  January  26, 1815,1  they  were  given  the  absolute  right  of  disposing 
of  all  their  lands,  provided  only  the  funds  were  invested  in  stock  of 
the  Bank  of  Kentucky,  the  aim  of  the  legislature  in  this  case,  it  appears, 
being  rather  to  bolster  up  the  stock  of  the  bank  than  to  improve  the 
condition  of  the  seminaries. 

Public  utterances,  showing  the  lack  of  success  of  the  system,  soon 
began  to  appear.  Governor  Slaughter,  in  his  message  of  December  3, 

1816,  says  that  the  academy  fund  "had  proved  inadequate  to  meet  the 
enlightened  and  liberal  view  of  the  legislature,"  and  by  December  2, 

1817,  he  recognizes  the  academies  as  failures.     We  find  the  committee 
on  education  of  the  State  senate,  in  October,  1820,  calling  for  additional 
help  for  the  languishing  seminaries,  and  Governor  Adair,  in  his  message 
of  October  16,  1821,  says  the  seminary  funds  "have  been  generally 
rendered  inefficacious  by  negligence  or  indiscretion  on  the  part  of  those 
to  whose  care  the  donations  had  been  confided."    The  system  had  then 
for  some  time  been  practically  abandoned  as  a  State  enterprise,  the 
only  further  public  patronage  extended  to  it  being  an  act  of  January 
31, 1816,2  making  general  the  exemption  from  taxation  of  all  seminaries 

1  Littell's  Laws  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  V,  pp.  163-164.        *  Ibid.,  Vol.  V,  p.  331. 


SOME    INTERESTING   FEATURES    OF    EARLY   EDUCATION.         27 

of  learning,  and  an  act  of  February  14,  1S20,1  giving  all  fines  and  for- 
feitures in  the  various  counties  to  the  respective  seminaries  located 
within  them.  This  aid  was,  however,  not  very  considerable  and  was 
insufficient  to  arrest  the  decline  which  had  in  most  cases  already  set 
in,  few  of  the  academies,  as  the  commissioners  of  1822 2  inform  us,  being, 
in  1815,  able  to  raise  a  fund  sufficient  to  support  good  schools. 

The  reasons  for  the  failure  of  the  plan  are  not  difficult  to  find,  and 
have  already  been  indicated  to  some  extent.  They  may  be  enumerated 
as  follows  : 

(1)  The  idea  was  in  advance  of  the  public  opinion  of  the  time.     The 
people  were  preoccupied  with  other  matters,  partly  necessary,  such  as 
driving  back  the  Indians  and  providing  for  their  own  physical  wants, 
but  their  leaders  were  largely  engrossed  in  acquiring  wealth  in  a  pros- 
perous and  growing  State,  and  they  themselves  too  often  considered 
the  clearing,  the  tobacco  patch,  and  the  cornfield  the  best  schools  for 
their  children,  as  McMurtrie3  says  in  reference  to  Jefferson  Seminary: 
"The  clamors  of  Plutus  drowning  the  modest  accents  of  the  muses." 
The  legislature  at  this  time  seems  to  have  considered  the  establishment 
of  a  State  bank  and  the  floating  of  its  notes  of  vastly  greater  impor- 
tance than  the  fostering  of  the  academies.     This  lack  of  public  sympa- 
thy for  the  movement  would  no  doubt  have  been  overcome  if  the  more 
elementary  schools  had  been  added  to  it  and  the  people  had  become 
attached  to  it  by  its  being  brought  into  more  direct  and  intimate  con- 
tact with  them,  but  unfortunately  the  system  was  never  sufficiently 
developed  for  this  to  be  the  case. 

(2)  The  endowments  were  in  many  cases  insufficient  to  accomplish  their 
purpose,  not  because  most  of  the  lands  set  apart  were  poor  and  wild 
lands  of  little  value,  although  some  of  them  were  no  doubt  of  this  char- 
acter, but  because  these  lands  were  really  not  sufficient  in  amount  to 
support  such  a  system  well,  and,  moreover,  much  of  them,  in  order  to 
the  speedy  establishment  of  the  schools,  had  been  pushed  into  the  mar- 
ket too  hastily  and  disposed  of  at  a  great  sacrifice,  as  was  to  be  the  // 
case  later,  probably  in  a  less  degree,  with  the  Congressional  land  grant 
of  1862  for  agricultural  colleges. 

(3)  The  principal  reason  for  the  failure  of  the  academies  is  to  be  found 
in  the  faults  of  the  plan  whereby  their  management  was  provided  for 
and  carried  out.    The  trustees  were  self- perpetuating  bodies  and,  as 
such,  little  responsible  to  public  authority.     Besides  there  was  no  ade- 
quate provision  for  calling  them  to  account  for  their  actions.     Butler4 
calls  them  so  many  "promiscuous  and  irresponsible  trustees."    This 
opened  the  way  for  the  primary  cause  of  failure — speculation  with  and 
squandering  of  the  funds,  sometimes  innocently,  but  often  deliberately 

1  Littell  and  Swigert's  Statutes  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  596. 

"Report  of  the  commissioners  appointed  to  collect  information  and  prepare  and 
report  a  system  of  common  schools,  p.  17. 

3  Sketches  of  Louisville,  p.  124. 

4  History  of  Kentucky,  p.  188. 


28  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

and  criminally.  The  endowments  were  at  first  well  guarded  bylaw, 
not  more  than  one-eighth  of  the  land  being  allowed  to  be  sold  for  inci- 
dental expenses  and  providing  buildings  and  apparatus,  but  subse- 
quent acts  gave  the  trustees  too  much  discretion  in  disposing  of  the 
lands  and  opened  the  way  "  for  the  subsequent  destruction  of  the  endow- 
ment by  incompetent  or  scheming  men."  It  was  too  often  the  case  that 
speculators  bought  the  land  and  the  money  was  all  put  in  one  costly 
building,  unoccupied  and  useless,  "a  monument  of  the  folly  of  its  pro- 
jectors." l  Sometimes  not  even  such  a  poor  result  was  obtained  from 
the  endowment. 

There  was  no  general  plan  and  no  uniform  means  were  adopted  to 
secure  the  success  of  the  whole  system.  Some  few  schools,  through 
the  wise  management  of  their  trustees,  escaped  the  general  wreck  and 
retained  their  usefulness,  some  of  them,  as  Bracken  and  Ivittenhouse 
academies  and  Jefferson  Seminary,2  even  becoming  colleges  afterwards. 
But  the  following,  taken  from  Marshall,3  written  in  1824  in  reference  to 
Kentucky  Seminary  at  Frankfort,  is,  alas  too  often,  the  record  of  the 
others : 

But  being  afflicted  with  the  country  disease — multiplicity  and  bad  government — 
it  has  languished  and  revived  alternately,  in  the  building  erected  for  it,  until  it 
has  neither  acting  trustee,  teacher,  nor  student,  as  it  is  believed. 

While  the  academy  plan  as  a  whole  was  thus  unfortunately  a  fail- 
ure, yet  it  was  not  entirely  so.  Many  of  the  schools  long  remained  as 
important  local  educational  factors,  and  one  good  result  almost  invari- 
bly  came  from  the  plan  of  endowment.  Most  of  forty-seven  counties 
of  the  State  were  able  to  buy  a  lot  and  build  on  it  a  fairly  good  school 
building,  where  a  teacher  could  be  supported  by  tuition  and  where 
many  living  near  by  were  able  to  secure  the  elements  of  an  education 
of  which  they  would  otherwise  have  been  deprived.  They  were  often 
able  to  pay  at  least  a  large  part  of  their  board  and  tuition  in  country 
produce,  a  thing  they  would  not  have  been  able  to  do  elsewhere. 
Professor  Chenault 4  sums  up  the  educational  result  of  the  experiment 
by  saying  that  "  many  of  our  early  lawyers,  doctors,  ministers,  and  other 
professional  men  obtained  all  their  education  in  these  seminaries." 

It  is  a  great  pity,  both  for  the  cause  of  education  in  Kentucky  and 
elsewhere,  that  the  great  capabilities  of  this  early  educational  system 
were  never  fully  realized.  Collins 5  has  considered  it  a  safe  assumption 
to  estimate  that  the  seminary  lands  under  proper  management  would 
have  realized  for  each  county  an  average  permanent  and  productive 
school  fund  of  at  least  $60,000,  in  many  cases  very  much  more  than  this 
amount — truly  a  magnificent  financial  foundation  for  a  State  educa- 
tional system.  Its  comparative  failure  does  not  detract  from  the  high 
meed  of  praise  due  the  originator  of  this  great  educational  project, 
whose  abuses  he  could  not  well  have  foreseen  and  which  certainly  had 
in  it  the  very  greatest  and  grandest  possibilities. 


1  Professor  Chenault,  in  Smith's  History  of  Kentucky,  p.  703. 

2  See  note  to  Chapter  I,  p.  14.  4  Smith's  History  of  Kentucky,  p.  697. 

3  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  II,  p.  336.       fi  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  502. 


SOME    INTERESTING    FEATURES    OF    EARLY    EDUCATION.         29 

BIBLIOG  H  APHY. 

A  greater  or  less  amount  of  information  has  been  obtained  froia  the  following 
works  in  the  preparation  of  this  section  : 

Sketches  of  Virginia,  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Foote,  D.  D.,  Philadelphia;  first  series,  1850; 
second  series,  1855. 

A  Historical,  Geographical,  and  Philosophical  View  of  the  American  United  States 
and  the  West  Indies,  by  W.  Wiuterbotham;  4  volumes,  London,  1795. 

A  Description  of  Kentucky,  by  Harry  Toulmin,  1792. 

File  of  the  Kentucky  Gazette,  1787-1860  (old  newspaper  preserved  in  the  Lexing- 
ton city  library). 

A  History  of  Kentucky,  by  Humphrey  Marshall ;  first  edition,  1  volume,  Frank- 
fort, 1812;  second  edition,  2  volumes,  Frankfort,  1824. 

A  History  of  Kentucky,  by  Mann  Butler,  A.  M.,  M.  D. ;  first  edition,  Louisville,  1834; 
second  edition,  Louisville  and  Cincinnati,  1836. 

Sketches  of  Kentucky,  by  Lewis  Collins,  Cincinnati  and  Maysville,  1847. 

A  History  of  Kentucky,  by  T.  S.  Authur  and  W.  H.  Carpenter,  Philadelphia,  1852. 

A  History  of  Kentucky,  by  R.  H.  Collins,  LL.  D. ;  2  volumes,  Covington,  1874;  the 
largest  and  best  of  the  histories  of  Kentucky. 

A  History  of  Kentucky,  by  N.  S.  Shaler  (American  Commonwealth  series),  Boston, 
1885. 

A  History  of  Kentucky,  by  Hon.  Z.  F.  Smith,  Louisville,  1886  (especially  valuable 
for  the  article  on  education  in  Kentucky  by  William  Chenault,  LL.  D.). 

A  History  of  Kentucky,  by  W.  H.Perrin,  J.  -H.  Battle,  and  G.  C.  Kniffcii,  Louis- 
ville and  Chicago,  1888;  mainly  compiled  from  other  histories,  but  containing  con- 
siderable new  educational  matter. 

The  Laws  of  Kentucky,  by  John  Bradford,  Lexington:  Vol.  I,  1799;  Vol.  II,  1807. 

The  Public  and  Permanent  Acts  of  Kentucky  now  in  force,  together  with  Acts  of 
Virginia  in  regard  to  Rents,  Land  Titles,  and  the  Encouragement  of  Learning,  by 
Harry  Toulmin,  Frankfort,  1802. 

The  Statutes  of  Kentucky,  Comprehending  also  Laws  of  Virginia  and  Acts  of 
Parliament  now  in  force,  by  William  Littell,  Frankfort,  1809-1819. 

A  Digest  of  all  the  Laws  of  Kentucky,  together  with  Virginia  and  English  Laws 
still  in  force,  by  William  Littell  and  Jacob  Swigert,  Frankfort,  1822. 

Collections  of  Acts  of  the  Legislature,  published  by  order  of  the  two  Houses  from 
time  to  time. 

Messages  of  the  governors  of  the  State,  published  in  the  journals  of  the  two 
houses  of  the  legislature,  from  time  to  time. 

Reports  of  committees  on  education  of  the  two  houses,  published  in  like  manner. 

A  History  of  Federal  and  State  Aid  to  Higher  Education,  by  Frank  W.  Blackmar, 
Ph.  D.,  Washington,  1890. 

The  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky,  by  Jfev.  Robert  Davidson, 
D.D.,  New  York,  1847. 

Early  Catholic  Missions  in  Kentucky,  1787-1827,  by  Right  Rev.  M.  J.  Spalding, 
Louisville,  1844. 

The  Life  and  Writings  of  John  Filsou,  by  R.  T.  Durrett,  LL.  D.,  Louisville,  1884. 

The  Life  and  Times  of  Judge  Caleb  Wallace,  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Whitsitt,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 
Louisville,  1888. 

The  Biographical  Encyclopedia  of  Kentucky,  published  by  J.  M.  Armstrong  &  Co., 
Cincinnati,  1878. 

A  History  of  Fayette  County,  Ky.,  by  Robert  Peter,  M.  D.,  edited  by  W.  H.  Perrin, 
Chicago,  1882. 

Sketches  of  Louisville  and  Its  Environs,  by  H.  McMurtrie,  M.  D.,  Louisville,  1819. 

Report  of  the  Commissioners  Appointed  by  the  General  Assembly  to  Collect  Infor- 
mation and  Prepare  and  Report  a  System  of  Common  Schools,  Frankfort,  1822. 

Articles  on  Education  in  Kentucky,  by  T. M. Goodknight,  A.M.,  in  the  Southern 
School,  Lexington,  from  June  1, 1893,  to  July  31, 1894  (extend  up  to  February,  1844). 


30  HISTORY   OF   HIGHER   EDUCATION    IN   KENTUCKY. 

The  American  Journal  of  Education  (especially  volumes  4  and  5),  edited  "by 
W.  Russell,  5  volumes,  Boston,  1826-1830. 

The  American  Annals  of  Education  (especially  volume  1),  edited  by  W.  C.  Wood- 
bridge,  6  volumes,  Boston,  1831-1836. 

Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education,  16  volumes,  Hartford,  1855-1866. 

THE    OLD-FIELD    SCHOOLS. 

Existing  at  the  same  time  with  the  academies  were  a  species  of  schools 
which  are  probably  frequently  met  with  elsewhere  in  the  early  history 
of  the  States,  especially  south  of  New  England,  but  which  had,  in  Ken- 
tucky, a  somewhat  characteristic  development  and  a  local  color.  They 
were  also  for  a  long  time  a  considerable  factor  in  her  educational  system, 
lasting,  as  they  did,  up  to  comparatively  recent  times,  and  only  being 
displaced  by  the  present  public-school  system  in  its  later  and  more 
complete  form.  These  facts  entitle  these  schools,  although  not  strictly 
lying  within  the  scope  of  this  monograph,  to  something  more  than  a 
passing  notice. 

They  were  ordinarily  denominated  "  Old-field771  schools,  and  were  the 
kind  of  schools  mainly  existing  until  the  last  generation  in  the  more 
remote  agricultural  districts  of  the  State,  where  access  to  the  acade- 
mies, which  were  located  in  the  towns,  was  difficult.  They  were  long 
the  only  means  of  education  available  to  a  large  part  of  the  rural  pop- 
ulation, they  and  the  academies  constituting  the  two  principal  streams 
of  education  in  the  early  history  of  the  State.  As  we  have  seen,  the 
very  earliest  schools  of  the  State,  as  those  of  Mrs.  Coomes,  at  Harrods- 
burg,  in  1776  $  of  May,  at  McAfee7s,  in  1777 ;  of  Doniphan,  at  Boonesboro, 
in  1779,  and  of  McKinney,  at  Lexington,  1780,  the  four  schools  ante- 
dating Transylvania  Seminary,  were  all  probably  of  this  type. 

As  soon  as  a  community  was  fairly  settled  one  of  the  first  things 
undertaken  was  the  building  of  a  schoolhouse,  also  usually  a  church, 
partly  by  joint  subscription,  but  mainly  by  joint  labor,  to  meet  their 
educational  as  well  as  spiritual  needs.  These  schoolhouses,  espe- 
cially in  early  days,  were  of  the  most  primitive  pattern.  They  were 
built  of  logs,  usually  unhewn,  the  cracks  being  at  most  only  half 
chinked,  with  "stack772  chimneys,  and  clapboard  doors  and  windows, 
the  latter  as  a  rule  being  without  frames  or  panes,  although  greased 
paper  was  sometimes  used  in  lieu  of  glass.  There  was  often  no  floor  at 
all  except  the  earth,  and  if  there  was,  it  was  made  of  rude  puncheons — 
split  logs,  with  the  hewn  side  turned  up.  The  only  desks  to  be  had 
were  the  same  rude  puncheons,  fixed  in  various  ways,  with  legs  inserted 
in  auger  holes  or  otherwise,  at  the  proper  height  for  sitting  and  writ- 
ing, and  without,  as  a  rule,  any  backs  of  any  kind  to  them.  The  only 

1  The  name  probably  arose  from  the  fact  that  the  schoolhouses  were  usually  built 
in  some  old  clearing,  often  a  spot  formerly  occupied  by  the  Indians  for  agricultural 
purposes.     The  term  "  Hedge  row  "  is  applied  to  them  by  Professor  Shaler  (History  of 
Kentucky,  page  139),  but  the  writer  has  never  seen  the  term  used  elsewhere  in  refer- 
ence to  them,  nor  has  he  ever  heard  it  used  in  western  Kentucky,  where  the  name 
"Old-field"  is  frequently  used  by  elderly  peoplo. 

2  A  name  applied  to  a  rough  chimney  built  of  logs  aud  daubed  with  mud. 


SOME   INTERESTING   FEATURES   OF   EARLY   EDUCATION.         31 

really  comfortable  thing  about  the  whole  structure  in  winter  was  the 
glow  of  the  great  fireplace,  where  huge  logs  were  generously  heaped, 
and  in  summer  the  breezes  which  circulated  almost  unhindered  through 
the  poorly  chinked  cracks. 

In  this  rude  educational  house  a  teacher  was  installed  and  supported, 
as  far  as  it  could  be  called  a  support,  by  the  pro  rata  subscriptions  of 
the  farmers  of  the  neighborhood,  a  common  rate  of  tuition  being  £1  7s. 
a  year  per  pupil.  The  tuition  fees  were  mostly  paid  in  such  articles  as 
tobacco— then  a  legal  tender  in  Kentucky,  bear  bacon,  buffalo  steak, 
jerked  venison,  furs,  pot  metal,  bar  iron,  linsey,  hackled  flax,  young- 
cattle,  pork,  corn,  or  whisky,  usually  not  over  one-fourth  of  it  being- 
paid  in  money,  a  rare  commodity  on  the  then  frontier. 

Some  of  the  teachers  of  these  early  schools,  as  Douiphau,  were  men 
of  high  standing,  often  following,  for  a  great  part  of  their  time,  the 
calling  of  a  surveyor,  then  an  honorable  and  lucrative  one;  but  most 
of  them  were  not,  the  character  of  the  teacher  and  the  methods  he  used 
being  often  almost  as  primitive  as  the  house  he  occupied.  He  was 
usually  some  elderly  man,  of  that  or  an  adjoining  neighborhood,  who 
was  supposed  to  have  some  education,  but  whose  main  qualification  for 
the  position  was  often  that  he  did  not  know  how,  or  did  not  care,  or 
have  the  energy  to  do  anything  else,  having  probably  failed  in  every- 
thing else  he  had  undertaken;  or  he  was  some  stranger,  a  traveling 
Irishman,  or  Englishman,  or  a  wandering  Yankee,  whose  qualifications 
for  the  place  were  presumed  from  the  fact  that  he  had  seen  a  good  deal 
of  the  world. 

These  men  could  not  have  made  teaching  a  profession,  as  their  wages 
were  very  low.  When  teaching,  however,  they  were  required  to  take 
up  early  and  turn  out  late,  giving  short  recesses  and  noon  intermis- 
sions, the  idea  being  that  they  must  earn  their  money.  They  were 
otherwise  practically  under  no  supervision,  except  such  as  the  pupils 
chose  to  put  upon  them,  and  taught  according  to  their  own  peculiar 
theories,  temperaments,  and  habits.  They  were  often  as  rough  and 
passionate  as  they  well  could  be,  and  liberal  in  their  use  of  the  rod, 
even  knocking  down  impertinent  pupils;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
some  of  them  allowed  the  scholars  to  do  as  they  pleased.  All,  as  a 
general  thing,  had  written  rules,  which  were  frequently  read  and  usu- 
ally vigorously  enforced,  the  pupils  often  dreading  the  frown  and  birch 
of  the  master  more  than  the  screams  of  the  wild  animals  they  some- 
times heard  on  their  way  to  and  from  the  lonely  schoolhouse. 

The  instruction  given  in  the  first  of  these  schools  consisted  of  reading, 
writing,  and  ciphering  to  the  rule  of  three.  The  teacher  had  to  be 
an  expert  penmaker,  but  his  instruction  in  writing  rarely  extended 
beyond  "  capitals  "  and  "  large  joining-hand." 1  Geography  and  arith- 
metic were  taught  orally— the  former  especially— often  in  doggerel 
verse,  which  was  frequently  sung  in  recitation  and  in  studying,  the 
pupils  who  were  not  reciting  adding  to  the  monotonous  uproar  of 


Perrin,  Battle  and  Kniffen's  History  of  Kentucky,  p.  220. 


32  HISTOKY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

the  class  by  studying  aloud,  as  they  were  usually  allowed  to  do.  The 
only  text  books  used  at  first  were  Dil worth's  Speller  and  the  Bible; 
later  Webster's  Spelling  Book  and  Murray's  English  Reader  and 
Grammar  were  introduced.  Afterwards  more  mathematics  and  some 
classical  instruction  were  added  to  the  course  in  many  schools,  thus 
materially  enlarging  the  education  offered. 

As  already  remarked,  practically  tbe  only  supervision  to  which  the 
teacher  was  subjected  was  exercised  by  the  pupils.  This  was  regu- 
lated by  custom,  with  which  the  patrons  of  the  school  never  in  any 
way  interfered  as  long  as  it  was  at  all  within  reason.  It  only  con- 
cerned such  things  as  treats  upon  certain  recognized  occasions,  the 
granting  of  holidays,  and  similar  matters,  and  was  enforced  by  the 
larger  boys  of  the  school,  who  rode  the  teacher  upon  a  rail,  ducked 
him  in  some  convenient  spring  or  pond,  or  otherwise  made  things 
so  unpleasant  for  him  that  he  was  forced  to  yield.  A  very  common 
practice  was  "  to  turn  him  out"  until  he  granted  the  desired  concession. 
This  is  well  illustrated  by  the  following  characteristic  incident  taken 
from  an  article  by  Col.  R.  T.  Durrett,  in  the  Louisville  Courier- Journal, 
of  April  2,  1881: 

On  the  28th  of  April,  1809,  the  first  show,  as  the  hoys  called  it,  occurred  iii  Louis- 
ville. It  was  the  exhibition  of  an  elephant,  and  there  was  a  general  uprising  in  all 
the  schools  for  a  holiday.  The  Jefferson  Seminary  and  the  schools  at  the  head  of 
which  were  teachers  conversant  with  the  hahits  of  the  place  gave  the  hoys  a  holi- 
day without  trouble,  but  there  was  a  New  England  teacher,  recently  come  to  the 
charge  of  one  of  the  log  schoolhouses,  who  could  not  understand  why  the  boys 
were  to  be  permitted  to  lay  aside  their  books  a  whole  day  to  see  an  elephant.  He 
would  not  grant  the  holiday  asked  and  the  boys  went  to  work  in  the  usual  way  to 
make  him  yield.  On  the  morning  of  the  28th  the  Yankee  teacher,  as  they  called 
him,  came  to  his  schoolhouse  and  found  the  door  well  barred  with  benches,  fence 
rails,  and  logs  of  wood,  and  the  boys  all  inside  laughing  at  his  futile  attempts  to 
get  in.  They  promptly  told  him  the  terms  upon  which  the  fort  would  be  surren- 
dered, which  were  simply  to  give  them  that  day  as  a  holiday,  so  they  could  go  to 
see  the  elephant.  The  teacher  was  indignant,  and  not  being  able  to  get  through 
the  door,  climbed  upon  the  roof  and  attempted  to  descend  the  chimney.  For  this 
contingency  the  boys  had  prepared  a  pile  of  dry  leaves,  and  when  the  teacher's  legs 
appeared  at  the  top  of  the  chimney  the  leaves  were  lighted  in  the  fireplace.  Down 
came  the  teacher,  for  having  once  started  he  could  not  go  back  and  the  flames 
scorched  him  and  the  smoke  smothered  him,  so  that  he  was  the  powerless  autocrat 
of  the  school  and  knight  of  the  ferule.  He  gave  the  holiday  and  went  home  to  lay 
up  for  repairs,  as  the  boys  expressed  it,  and  the  boys  went  to  the  show  as  if  nobody 
had  been  either  burnt  or  smoked. 

Such  were  the  methods  of  discipline  and  of  teaching  in  the  u  old- 
field"  schools,  which,  as  has  been  said,  were  to  be  found  in  many  parts 
of  Kentucky  until  the  last  period  of  her  educational  history.  In  fact, 
some  of  somewhat  similar  type,  in  so  far  as  schoolhouses  at  least  are 
concerned,  are  still  to  be  found  in  the  out-of-the-way  parts  of  the 
State;  but  their  methods  are  far  in  advance  of  the  primitive  ones  we 
have  just  described.  These,  for  several  generations,  furnished  to  a 
large  part  of  tbe  agricultural  population  of  the  State  the  rudiments  of 
an  education  which  they  would  otherwise  have  been  unable  to  secure. 


SOME    INTERESTING   FEATURES    OF    EARLY    EDUCATION.          33 

They  were  of  great  service  in  their  day  and  time,  being  for  a  long 
period  practically  the  only  schools  accessible  to  many,  especially  to 
girls,  whose  education  must  otherwise  have  been  almost  entirely 
neglected. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Smith's  History  of  Kentucky ;  Perrin,  Battle  and  Kniffen's  History  of  Kentucky. 

Proceedings  of  the  Critteudeii  County  Teachers'  Institute,  Marion,  Kentucky,  1877. 

A  History  of  Russellville  and  Logan  County,  by  A.  C.  Finley,  Russellville,  1878 
and  1879. 

Articles  on  Kentucky  education,  in  the  Louisville  Courier-Journal  for  January  2, 
9,  16,  23,  and  30,  1881,  by  II.  T.  Durrett,  LL.  D. 

Sketches  of  Montgomery  County,  by  Richard  Reid,  Mount  Sterling,  1882. 

EARLY  FEMALE    EDUCATION. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that,  although  the  first  teacher  in  Kentucky 
was  a  woman,  there  were  for  a  long  time  few  schools  at  all  for  girls  in 
the  State,  and  these  usually  of  the  poorest  and  most  primitive  kind. 
Girls  were  excluded  entirely  from  the  early  academies,  and  the  only 
schools  to  which  they  had  access,  with  few  exceptions,  were  of  the  "old- 
field"  type  just  described.  The  educational  advantages  offered  in 
these  were  very  limited  as  a  rule,  and  the  surroundings,  at  least,  not 
calculated  to  be  very  refining.  Professor  Chenault,  quoting  from  Felix 
Grundy,  tells  us  that  the  teachers  of  these  early  schools,  which  girls 
generally  had  to  attend  if  they  received  any  education  at  all,  "were 
often  destitute  both  of  a  knowledge  of  polite  literature  and  good 
manners." ' 

For  a  considerable  period  the  only  schools  in  the  State  claiming  to 
give  girls  an  ordinary  grammar-school  education  were  those  of  Eev. 
John  Lyle,  at  Paris,  and  of  Mrs.  Keats,  at  Washington,  Mason  County. 
Our  information  in  regard  to  these  schools  is  very  meager  and  can  be 
given  in  a  few  words : 

REV.  MK.  LYLE'S  SCHOOL. 

The  Rev.  John  Lyle  was  one  of  the  Presbyterian  ministers  prominent 
in  the  early  history  of  Kentucky.  We  find  him  attempting  to  supply 
the  great  lack  of  educational  facilities  for  girls,  by  opening,  in  1806,  at 
Paris,  the  first2  female  seminary  in  the  West,  if  not  in  the  United 
States.  Mr.  Lyle  appeared  to  advantage  as  a  teacher,  and  soon  had 
a  flourishing  school  of  some  '200  or  more3  pupils.  He  continued  his 
school  until  1809  or  1810,4  when  he  is  said5  to  have  closed  it  because 

1  Smith's  History  of  Kentucky,  p.  699. 

2Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  26. 

3Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  26,  says  there  were  from  150  to  300  pupils, 
while  page  483  of  the  same  work  gives  the  number  as  from  150  to  200.  Foote's 
Sketches  of  Virginia,  first  series,  page  554,  says  the  school  sometimes  had  more  than 
200  pupils. 

4  Collins  (Vol.  I,  p.  483)  says  he  declined  to  teach  in  1809,  while  Sprague  (Annals  of 
the  American  Pulpit.  Vol.  IV,  p.  179)  says  he  withdrew  from  the  seminary  about  1810. 

5  By  Foote  and  Sprague,  as  above. 

2127— No.  25 3 


34  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

others  connected  with  the  enterprise  refused  to  allow  the  Bible  to  be 
read  publicly  in  the  school.  Mr.  Lyle  then  went  into  the  active  work 
of  the  ministry,  in  which  he  labored  with  success  for  many  years  after- 
wards.1 His  severing  his  connection  with  the  school  seems  to  have 
broken  it  up,  as  we  do  not  hear  of  it  again. 

MRS.    KEATS'S   SCHOOL. 

The  other  female  school  in  the  State  at  this  period,  which  is  also  said2 
to  be  one  of  the  most  celebrated  in  the  West  at  the  time,  was  that 
taught  by  Mrs.  Louisa  Fitzherbert  Keats,  and  was  located  at  Wash- 
ington, for  some  time  the  most  important  town  in  Mason  County.  Here, 
we  are  told,  the  daughters  and  wives  of  many  of  the  distinguished  men 
of  the  State  were  educated.  The  school  was  opened  in  1807  and  closed 
in  1812.  We  do  not  know  for  what  reason. 

OTHER  EARLY  FEMALE  SCHOOLS. 

Just  at  the  time  of  the  closing  of  Mrs.  Keat's  school,  Loretto  Acad- 
emy was  opened  in  what  is  now  Marion  County,  and  was  followed,  in 
1814,  by  Nazareth  Academy,  in  Nelson  County.  Not  long  afterwards, 
in  1825,  Mrs.  Tevis  and  her  husband  established  Science  Hill  at  Shelby  - 
ville.  Four  years  earlier  Lafayette  Seminary  had  been  founded  at  Lex- 
ington. This  last  school,  while  having  a  considerable  attendance  and 
reputation  for  a  time,3  does  not  seem  to  have  had  an  extended  history. 
Loretto,  Nazareth,  and  Science  Hill  were,  however,  long  the  principal 
seats  of  female  education,  not  only  in  Kentucky,  but  in  the  Southwest 
generally,  and  are  still  flourishing  in  their  educational  usefulness. 
They  will,  on  this  account,  although  a  considerable  part  of  their  work 
is  now  to  be  classed  as  secondary  and  so  lying  outside  the  scope  of  this 
monograph,  demand  a  more  extended  consideration  at  our  hands  in 
connection  with  the  history  of  the  female  colleges  of  the  State. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Foote's  Sketches  of  Virginia,  first  series. 

Collins's  Sketches  of  Kentucky. 

Collins's  History  of  Kentucky. 

Sketches  of  Paris  and  Bourbon  County,  by  G.  R.  Keller  and  J.  M.  McCann,  Paris, 
1876. 

The  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit,  by  Rev.  W.  B.  Sprague,  U.  D.,  LL.  D.,  9  vol- 
umes, New  York,  1859-1869. 


Collins  and  Sprague,  as  above,  we  learn  he  was  born  in  Virginia,  in  1769; 
was  educated  at  Liberty  Hall  (now  Washington  and  Lee  University),  and  was 
licensed  to  preach  the  Gospel  in  1795.  He  came  to  Kentucky  as  a  Presbyterian 
missionary  in  1797  or  1798.  His  death  occurred  in  1825. 

2 Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  II,  p.  557. 

3An  annual  announcement  of  the  seminary  for  1825  says  it  was  visited  by  Lafay- 
ette on  May  16,  1825.  It  then  had  nine  instructors  and  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
pupils,  and  in  the  previous  four  years  had  had  altogether  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
six  pupils.  It  is  said  to  furnish  every  facility  < '  for  making  thorough  and  accomplished 
scholars." 


f?  f 
UNlVE»llTY 


SECOND  MEDICAL  BUILDING  OF  TRANSYLVANIA  UNIVERSITY.      ERECTED  1840,   BURNED  1863. 


CHAPTER    III. 

TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY. 


Transylvania  University  was  formed  by  the  union  of  Transylvania 
Seminary  and  Kentucky  Academy,  tbe  history  of  each  of  which  we  will 
trace  separately  until  they  are  merged  into  the  more  general  and  larger 
institution,  the  university  proper. 

TRANSYLVANIA   SEMINARY. 

We  have  seen  in  connection  with  the  investigation  of  the  early  State 
university  system  that  this  school  had  its  origin  in  the  act  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Assembly  of  May,  1780,  for  the  conception  and  passage  of  which 
Rev.  John  Todd,  of  Virginia,  and  his  nephew,  Col.  John  Todd,  of  Ken- 
tucky, are  entitled  to  lasting  credit  and  honor.  This  act,1  which  has 
been  quoted  at  length  in  connection  with  the  inauguration  of  the  early 
academies,  put  the  endowment  of  8,000  acres  of  land  in  the  hands  of 
thirteen  trustees,  including  Colonel  Todd  himself  and  several  other 
prominent  men  of  Kentucky,  then  the  western  frontier  county  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  declared  that  the  seminary  should  be  "  erected  within  the 
said  county  as  soon  as  the  circumstances  of  the  county  and  the  state 
of  its  funds  will  admit." 

No  corporate  powers  were  conferred  on  the  trustees  mentioned,  and 
not  even  a  name  was  given  to  the  proposed  school.  No  definite  idea 
was  probably  entertained  of  its  being  opened  at  an  early  date,  for  Vir- 
ginia was  then  in  the  midst  of  what  was  to  her  one  of  the  most  disturb- 
ing times  of  the  Revolution,  and  Indian  hostilities  in  Kentucky,  while 
experiencing  a  temporary  lull,  were  soon  to  break  forth  with  such  vio- 
lence as  to  bear  down  in  their  course  the  founder,  Colonel  Todd2  him- 
self and  other  trustees  and  valuable  friends  of  the  enterprise.  The 
matter  was,  however,  not  entirely  lost  sight  of,  as  we  find  that  on  July 
1,  1780,  an  inquest  of  escheat  was  held  near  Lexington,  Daniel  Boone, 
so  famous  in  the  early  annals  of  Kentucky,  being  one  of  the  jurors,  and 


1  Toulmin's  Acts  of  Kentucky,  p.  462;  Littell's  Laws  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  571; 
Hening's  Statutes  at  Large  of  Virginia,  Vol.  X,  p.  288. 

2  Col.  John  Todd  and  Col.  Stephen  Trigg  were  killed  in  tbe  disastrous  battle  of  the 
Blue  Licks,  fought  on  August  19, 1782.     Col.  John  Floyd  was  killed  from  ambush  near 
Floyd's  Station,  on  April  12, 1783.     John  May,  another  trustee,  was  also  killed  in  a 
boat  on  the  Ohio  River  in  the  early  part  of  1790. 

35 


36  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

4,000  acres  of  the  land  given  to  the  seminary  was  condemned  and  appro- 
priated to  its  uses.  This  land,  together  with  the  remainder  of  the 
original  donation,  which  was  condemned  later,  is  described  as  "as  good 
as  any  in  the  country." 

Nothing  more  seems  to  have  been  done  until  May  5,  1783,  when 
another  act1  was  passed  by  the  Virginia  Assembly,  largely,  at  least, 
through  the  influence  and  efforts  of  Hon.  Caleb  Wallace,2  then  a  repre- 
sentative in  that  body  from  the  county  of  Lincoln,  in  the  District"  of 
Kentucky,  and  later  one  of  the  justices  of  its  supreme  court  when 
Kentucky  became  a  State.  Judge  Wallace  was  perhaps  more  thor- 
oughly identified  with  the  cause  of  education,  at  least  higher  education, 
in  Kentucky  than  any  other  one  man  before  or  since  his  time.  We 
have  already  noticed  somewhat  his  connection  with  the  founding  of 
Transylvania  Seminary,  and  shall  see  him  later  taking  an  equally 
prominent  part  in  establishing  its  rival,  Kentucky  Academy,  and  then 
in  uniting  the  two  into  Transylvania  University. 

The  preamble  of  the  act  of  1783,  after  quoting  the  act  of  1780  donat- 
ing public  land  to  the  school,  gives  the  reason  for  its  own  enactment 
as  follows: 

And  whereas  it  hath  been  represented  to  this  general  assembly  that  voluntary 
contributions  might  be  obtained  from  individuals  in  aid  of  the  public  donation, 
were  the  number  of  said  trustees  now  alive  and  willing  to  act,  increased,  and  such 
powers  and  privileges  granted  to  them,  by  an  act  of  incorporation,  as  are  requisite 
for  carrying  into  effect  the  intentions  of  this  legislature  in  the  said  act  more  fully 
recited  :  Be  it  therefore  enacted,  etc. 

The  act  goes  on  to  name  as  trustees  twenty-five  men,  the  most  promi- 
nent in  the  district,  including  Judge  Wallace  and  seven  of  the  trus- 
tees under  the  former  act.  Their  names  are  worthy  of  being  men 
tioned  on  account  of  their  prominence  in  other  matters  as  well  as  those 
of  education,  embracing  as  they  do  future  governors,  generals,  judges 
of  circuit  and  supreme  courts,  legislators  and  prominent  lawyers,  physi- 
cians, and  ministers.  They  are  as  follows:  William  Fleming,  William 
Christian,  Benjamin  Logan,  John  May,  Levi  Todd,  John  Cowan, 
Edmund  Taylor,  Thomas  Marshall,  Samuel  McDowell,  John  Bowman, 
George  Kogers  Clarke,  John  Campbell,  Isaac  Shelby,  David  Kice,  John 
Edwards,  Caleb  Wallace,  Walker  Daniel,  Isaac  Cox,  Eobert  Johnson, 
John  Craig,  John  Mosby,  James  Speed,  Christopher  Greenup,  John 


Acts  of  Kentucky,  pp.  463^67;  Littell's  Laws  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  Ill, 
pp.  571-576;  Heuing's  Statutes  at  Large,  Vol.  XI,  p.  283. 

-See  Whitsitt's  Life  and  Times  of  Judge  Caleb  Wallace,  especially  pp.  122-135; 
also  Bishop's  History  of  the  Church  in  Kentucky  for  forty  years  (containing  the 
Memoirs  of  Rev.  David  Rice),  pp.  96-97. 

3  Kentucky  was  at  first  a  part  of  Fincastle  County,  Va.  It  was  first  made  a  separ- 
ate county  by  an  act  going  into  operation  on  December  31,  1776,  and  by  an  act  going 
into  effect  November  1,  1780,  was  called  the  District  of  Kentucky,  and  was  divided 
into  the  counties  of  Jefferson,  Fayette,  and  Lincoln.  See  LitteH's  Laws  of  Kentucky, 
Vol.  I,  p.  626. 


TRANSYLVANIA   UNIVERSITY.  37 

Crittenden,  and  Willis  Green.  The  name  Transylvania '  is  then  for  the 
first  time  given  to  the  proposed  seminary,  and  it  is  granted  12,000 
acres2  of  other  escheated  lauds  in  addition  to  the  8,000  acres  already 
bestowed.  The  20,000  acres  are  also  exempted  from  taxation  and  the 
teachers  and  students  from  militia  duty.  The  trustees  are  made  by 
the  act  a  self- perpetuating  body  on  the  principle  of  cooptation  and 
are  given  in  general — 

"All  the  powers  and  privileges  that  are  enjoyed  by  the  visitors  or  governors  of  any 
college  or  university  within  the  State."  They  are  also  given  the  right  to  confer,  by 
diploma  signed  by  the  president  and  five  of  the  trustees,  the  degree  of  bachelor  or 
master  of  arts  "upon  all  such  students,  if  such  there  be,  as  the  said  trustees,  with  the 
concurrence  of  a  majority  of  the  professors,  shall  adjudge  to  have  merited  the  honor 
of  the  seminary  by  their  virtue  and  erudition,"  and  at  the  same  time  confer  "any 
honorary  degree  which,  with  the  same  advice,  shall  be  adjudged  to  other  gentlemen 
on  account  of  merit." 

You  will  observe  that  we  have  here,  under  the  name  of  a  seminary, 
all  the  provisions  of  a  college  charter;  in  fact,  this  very  charter,  with 
its  powers  and  privileges  not  materially  changed,  as  far  as  can  be  ascer- 
tained, was  the  one  under  which  a  university  was  afterwards  operated. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  seminary,  by  reason  of  its  plan  of 
endowment  and  in  its  purposes,  was  looked  upon  as  a  State  institu- 
tion, but  it  is  also  to  be  noted  that  most  of  its  chief  promoters  were 
Presbyterians,  a  denomination  then  and  for  some  time  afterwards  largely 
predominant,  as  an  intellectual  factor  at  least,  in  Kentucky  affairs,  and 
quite  a  large  majority  of  its  first  active  board  of  trustees,  just  men- 
tioned above,  were  members  of  that  church  and  prominent  in  its  coun- 
cils. The  Presbyterians  are  undoubtedly  entitled  to  the  credit  of 
inaugurating  higher  education  in  Kentucky. :!  Transylvania  Seminary, 
the  first  institution  in  the  State,  distinctively  one  of  higher  education, 
owed  its  origin  to  their  initiative,  and  was  opened  under  their  auspices. 
In  purpose  and  name  it  was  a  State  institution,  but  in  organization  it 
was  really  Presbyterian  by  reason  of  its  cooptative  board  of  trustees 

1  This  name  a  classical  synonym  for  '  back  woods',  or  frontier,  was  borrowed  from  the 
use  of  it  by  Col.  Richard  Henderson,  of  North  Carolina,  and  his  followers  who,  in  1775, 
by  the  purchase  from  the  Cherokees  of  the  portion  of  the  State  between  the  Kentucky 
and  Cumberland  rivers,  attempted  to  set  up  an  independent  government  in  Ken- 
tucky, under  the  name  of  Transylvania,  in  defiance  of  the  claims  of  Virginia,  to 
which  they  soon  had  to  submit.  The  use  of  the  name  for  the  school  was  in  one  way 
rather  appropriate,  as  its  founder,  Colonel  Todd,  had  been  a  representative  in  the 
temporary  legislature,  organized  by  Colonel  Henderson  at  Boonsborough  in  May, 
1775.  Colonel  Todd  had  come  to  Kentucky  from  Virginia  just  prior  to  that  date. 
Later  in  the  spring  of  1780  he  was  sent  as  a  delegate  from  the  County  of  Kentucky 
to  the  Virginia  Assembly.  See  Morehead's  Booiisborough  Address,  pp.  34-35  and 
79-81. 

2 Davidson  tells  us,  (Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky,  p.  289),  that  when  Ken- 
tucky became  an  independent  State  in  1792,  she  so  modified  her  laws  of  escheat,  in 
order  to  encourage  settlers,  that  the  Seminary  was  deprived  of  this  12,000  acres  and 
was  only  left  the  original  8,000  acres. 

:J  See  Davidson's  Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky,  pp.  314  et  seq. 


38  HISTORY   OF   HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

being  largely  of  that  denomination.  The  bad  results  of  this  unfortunate 
union  of  church  and  state  soon  began  to  appear. 

The  trustees  met,  according  to  the  requirements  of  the  charter,  on 
November  10,  1783,  "at  John  Crow's  Station,  near  Danville,"  which 
town  had  lately  been  made  the  capital  of  the  district,1  and  was  also  at 
that  time  its  intellectual  center,  and  organized  with  Rev.  David  Rice, 
ordinarily  called  "  Father"  Rice, 2  the  oldest  and  in  some  respects  the 
most  prominent  Presbyterian  minister  of  the  western  country,  as 
chairman. 

Mr.  Rice  was  born  m  Virginia,  in  1733,  had  graduated  from  Prince- 
ton College,  New  Jersey,  ui  1761,  and  had  later  studied  theology  under 
Rev.  John  Todd.  He  had  already  been  among  the  founders  of  what 
is  now  Hampdeu- Sidney  College,  in  his  native  State,  and  having  come 
to  Kentucky  in  the  spring  of  1783,  at  once  took  a  natural  interest  in 
the  new  educational  enterprise  just  starting  there.  He  remained  con- 
nected with  the  seminary  board  until  July  18,  1787,  during  which  time 
he  took  quite  an  active  part  in  its  affairs.  We  shall  subsequently  find 
him  equally  active  in  raising  up  its  rival  Kentucky  academy.  His 
successor  as  chairman  of  the  seminary  board  was  Judge  Harry  Innes,3 
of  the  district  court,  who  presided  over  its  meetings  for  several  years. 

As  has  been  said  above,  this  original  grant,  as  quoted  also  in  the 
charter  of  1783,  required  the  school  to  be  opened  as  soon  as  the  condi- 
tion of  the  country  and  the  state  of  its  funds  would  admit.  We  have 
seen  that  the  extremely  unsettled  state  of  affairs  in  the  pioneer  district 
was  at  first  an  insurmountable  obstacle.  It  continued  to  be  a  hin- 
drance for  some  time  to  come,  but  soon  the  second  of  the  conditions  was 
the  greater  difficulty  of  the  two.  No  funds  from  the  endowment  lands 
were  yet  available,  and  no  other  means  were  at  hand  to  inaugurate 
the  enterprise.  Good  lands  were  abundant  and  cheap  in  the  district, 
just  then  fairly  settled,  and  the  seminary  lauds  could  consequently 
neither  be  sold  for  much,  nor  rented,  nor  leased  in  such  a  way  as  to 
bring  in  much  immediate  income.  The  policy  of  the  trustees  from  the 
beginning  was  to  lease4  these  lands  for  comparatively  long  periods  at 
a  low  rate,  trusting  to  the  growth  of  the  country  to  increase  their 
value  and  consequent  returns.  All  the  board  seems  to  have  done  at 
their  first  meeting  was  to  elect  a  chairman  and  appoint  a  committee  to 
solicit  subscriptions  of  money  or  property  for  the  enterprise.  They 


1  By  having  been  made  the  seat  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  district  in  1783. 

2  So  called  from  his  fatherly  care  over  the  infant  Presbyterian  churches  in  the 
State.     At  this  time  he  was  only  about  50  years  of  age.     For  sketches  of  his  life  see 
Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  460,  and  Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American 
Pulpit,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  248. 

3  Also  spelled  Innis,  but  this  seems  at  least  the  preferable  spelling. 

4  The  arrangements  for  the  first  important  lease,  Bradford  tells  us  (Notes,  p.  438), 
were  made  on  October  14,  1788,  after  which  date  the  school  began  to  derive  some 
income  from  this  source,  but  the  returns  under  the  lease  system  never  seem  to  have 
been  very  large. 


TRANSYLVANIA   UNIVERSITY.  39 

recognized  the  imperative  need  of  such  a  school  in  a  young  and 
rapidly  growing  community,  and  so  issued  their  call  for  aid  in  its  early 
establishment. 

There  seems,  however,  not  to  have  been  much  response  to  this  call, 
and  what  few  small  subscriptions  were  received  seem  to  have  been 
mainly  contributed  by  the  trustees  themselves.  The  time  was  not 
propitious  for  such  an  undertaking.  The  financial  trouble  and  distress 
due  to  the  close  of  the  Revolution  were  augmented  by  troubles  with 
the  Indians,  the  contest  then  on  being  maiuly  that  of  tomahawk,  scalp- 
ing knife,  and  rifle,  and  not  of  intellectual  growth  or  prowess;  more- 
over, the  attention  of  the  people  was  necessarily  largely  absorbed  in 
subduing  the  wilderness  and  making  homes  and  a  livelihood  for  them- 
selves and  their  families.  Land  had  to  be  cleared,  roads  opened,  and 
other  means  of  communication  and  civilization  prepared. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  board,  held  at  Danville,  March  4,  1784,  one  of 
the  few  encouragements  received  at  this  period — and  quite  an  important 
acquisition,  as  such  things  were  a  great  luxury  in  a  frontier  settlement, 
where  they  were  rare  and  hard  to  obtain,  owing  to  the  imperfect  facili- 
ties for  transportation — came  in  the  form  of  the  gift  of  a  small  library 
and  some  philosophical  apparatus  from  Eev.  John  Todd,  of  Virginia, 
who,  although  at  such  a  great  distance  in  that  day,  seems  still  to  have 
kept  a  watchful  eye  over  the  interests  of  the  infant  institution,  the 
original  foundation  of  which  he  had  encouraged,  and  who  showed  his 
spirit  in  such  matters  by  making  the  donation  "  as  an  encouragement 
to  science."  The  difficulty  of  communication  at  the  time  is  well  illus- 
trated by  the  fact  that,  although  the  trustees  seem  to  have  made  early 
arrangements  to  have  these  articles  transported  as  promptly  as  possi- 
ble, they  were  not  received  in  Kentucky  until  the  spring  of  1 789.  Not- 
withstanding discouragements  and  the  still  unsettled  state  of  the 
country,  the  trustees  persevered,  and  at  a  meeting  held  on  November 
4,  1784,  resolved  to  open  a  grammar  school  "  at  or  near  the  residence 
of  Eev.  David  Rice,1  the  tuition  being  put  at  4  pistoles2  per  year,  pay- 
able quarterly,  and  a  committee  being  appointed  to  provide  a  suitable 
person  to  teach  under  the  direction  of  the  chairman.  This  committee 
reported  on  May  26,  1785,3  that  the  school  had  been  conducted  at  the 
house  of  Rev.  David  Rice  since  the  1st  of  the  previous  February  by 
Rev.  James  Mitchell,  and  that  Mr.  Mitchell  had  been  then  employed  to 

1  Records  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Transylvania  Seminary. 

2  A  pistole  was  a  Spanish  coin  whose  value  was  about  $3.60.     Kentucky  was  at 
this  time  more  directly  connected  financially  with  New  Orleans  than  with  the  United 
States.         ' 

3This  and  in  fact  all  the  other  dates  of  the  university's  history  up  to  1818,  unless 
otherwise  specified,  are  taken  from  the  records  of  the  board  of  trustees.  That  the 
committee  reported  on  this  day  has  caused  Peter  (Transylvania  University,  p.  28) 
to  give  it  as  the  natal  day  of  the  institution;  and  that  the  school  was  to  be  opened 
"  at  or  near  the  residence  of  Rev.  David  Rice/'  has  caused  Davidson  and  others  to 
make  Mr.  Rice  its  first  teacher. 


40  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION   IN    KENTUCKY. 

teach  for  another  year.  So  February  1,  1785,  is  the  natal  day  of  Tran- 
sylvania Seminary,  and  Rev.  James  Mitchell  was  its  first  teacher.  He 
received  the  modest  salary  of  £30  ($100) l  a  year.  The  school  was 
taught  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Rice  because  no  other  suitable  place,  it 
seems,  could  be  found  for  it. 

Such  were  the  humble  beginnings  of  the  first2  literary  institution 
west  of  the  Allegliauy  Mountains,  an  institution  which  after  a  com 
paratively  obscure  history  of  a  few  years  was  to  blaze  forth  with  sud- 
den effulgence  and  to  remain  for  two  generations  the  highest  star  of 
the  Western  literary  firmament.     We  summarize  from  Morehead3: 

A  seminary  of  learning  in  a  "  barbarous  neighborhood" — a  wilderness  still  reso- 
nant with  the  war  whoops  of  the  savage — chartered  in  the  midst  of  great  political  con- 
vulsion— organized  at  a  frontier  station — on  the  extreme  verge  of  civilized  society! 
Such  were  the  auspices  under  which  the  first  literary  institution  of  Kentucky  and 
the  West  was  established. 

We  have  no  information  as  to  how  many  pupils  at  first  attended  the 
school,  but  there  were  probably  not  many.  Those  were  stirring  times 
politically  at  Danville,  where  a  number  of  the  conventions4  looking 
toward  the  separation  of  Kentucky  from  Virginia  were  held  during  the 
time  of  the  location  of  the  seminary  there.  Courage  and  fidelity  were 
also  then  required  of  both  teacher  and  pupils  in  staying  at  their  posts, 
when  the  war  whoop  of  the  Indians  was  liable  to  be  heard  at  any  time 
and  rifles  had  to  be  carried  to  and  from  school  for  protection.  Political 
and  other  similar  matters  seem,  at  least  in  that  community,  to  have 
then  had  by  far  the  largest  share  of  public  attention,  and  the  seminary 
was  left  to  struggle  on  with  difficulty.  Mr.  Mitchell,  of  whom  we  know 
little,  seems  to  have  remained  something  over  a  year  and  then  to 
have  returned  to  North  Carolina,  from  which  State  he  had  probably 
come.  About  the  only  definite  information5  we  are  able  to  obtain  con- 

1  The  pound  in  early  days  in  Kentucky  was  $3.33£,  a  value  which  is  to  be  always 
attached  to  it  throughout  this  monograph. 

'^The  facts  clearly  establish  at  least  the  strong  probability,  if  not  the  certainty,  of 
the  seminary  antedating  Martin  Academy,  which  subsequently  developed  into  Wash- 
ington College,  Tenn.,  and  has  been  claimed  by  Foote  (Sketches  of  North  Carolina, 
p.  311)  to  be  the  oldest  school  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Foote  says  Martin  Academy 
was  incorporated  in  1788;  Merriam's  Higher  Education  in  Tennessee,  p.  227,  cor- 
rectly gives  this  date  as  1783.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Transylvania  Seminary  rests 
directly  on  the  act  passed  by  the  Virginia  assembly  in  May,  1783  (Acts  of  1783,  p.  40), 
entitled  "An  act  to  amend  an  act  entitled  an  act  to  vest  certain  escheated  lands 
in  the  county  of  Kentucky  in  trustees  for  a  public  school,"  and  indirectly  on  the 
earlier  act  here  mentioned,  which  was  passed  in  May,  1780  (Hening,  X,  287-288). 
This  earlier  act  vests  8,000  acres  of  Tory  lands  in  thirteen  trustees,  who  are  men- 
tioned, for  the  benefit  of  schools.  In  the  Transylvania  act  of  1783  seven  of  these 
thirteen  trustees  are  reappointed.  The  North  Carolina  act  chartering  Martin 
Academy  was  passed  at  the  April  session,  1783  (Martin's  Private  Acts  of  North  Caro- 
lina, p.  119). 

3Boonesborough  address,  p.  81. 

4  Six  of  the  nine  conventions  held  for  this  purpose  occurred  between  December, 
1784,  and  July,  1788. 

6  Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  248. 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  41 

earning  him  is  that  he  married  the  daughter  of  the  Rev.  David  Rice. 
After  his  departure  the  existence  of  the  seminary  was  probably  for 
two  or  three  years  only  nominal,  as  no  other  teacher  seems,  during  that 
time,  to  have  been  employed. 

The  trustees,  if  they  had  ever  looked  upon  Danville  as  the  perma- 
nent seat  of  the  school,  had  soon,  probably  by  reason  of  the  lack  of 
efficient  local  support  in  its  behalf,  changed  their  ideas  in  this  respect 
and  had,  as  early  as  May  26,  1785,  begun  to  discuss  its  location  else- 
where. A  committee  of  the  board  on  June  1,  1786,  reported  in  favor 
of  its  being  located  on  the  seminary  lands  2J  miles  south  of  Lexington. 
The  legislature  of  Virginia,  again  appealed  to  in  behalf  of  the  strug- 
gling enterprise,  passed  an  act  on  December  13,  1787, l  granting  to  the 
seminary  one-sixth  of  the  surveyor's  fees  in  the  district  of  Kentucky, 
which  by  a  general  law,  together  with  a  similar  share  of  these  fees 
throughout  the  State,  had  formerly  been  bestowed  upon  William  and 
Mary  College — an  act  which  might  have  materially  helped  the  school 
out  of  its  financial  troubles  if  its  provisions  had  not  been  so  defective 
as  to  make  it  practically  inoperative  until  an  additional  act  of  Decem- 
ber 20,  1790,2  made  it  effective  by  attaching  the  proper  penalties  to  its 
violation. 

Meanwhile  all  efforts  at  endowment  at  Danville  by  private  subscrip- 
tion had  failed,  and  the  trustees,  having  continued  to  discuss  the  matter 
of  location,  finally,  on  April  17, 1788,  resolved  to  hold  their  next  stated 
meeting  in  Lexington,  probably  partly  with  the  view,  as  has  been 
noted,  of  soon  locating  the  seminary  on  the  endowment  lands  near 
there,  and  partly  because  they  thought  the  school  would  receive  a  more 
favorable  public  consideration  in  that  town.  The  celebrated  John 
Filson,3  then  teaching  in  Lexington,  took  a  considerable  interest  in  the 
enterprise  about  this  time,  and  through  his  articles  in  the  Kentucky 
Gazette4  and  otherwise  was  perhaps  one  influence  in  causing  this 
action  of  the  trustees.  We  accordingly  find  the  board  meeting  in 
Lexington  October  13,  1788,  and  without  finally  deciding  the  question 
of  location,  which  was  discussed,  resolving  to  open  the  school  in  that 

'Toulmin's  Acts  of  Kentucky,  p.  136;  Littell's  Laws  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  576. 

2Toulmin's  Acts  of  Kentucky,  pp.  136, 137;  Littell's  Laws  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  Ill, 
pp.  577,  578.  Davidson  tells  us  (Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky,  p.  289)  that  this 
law  was  repealed  by  Kentucky  in  1802.  The  writer  has  not  been  able  to  find  any 
such  repealing  act  in  any  of  the  early  collections  he  has  seen,  but  has  found  an  act 
of  June  23,  1792  (Acts  of  1792-1797,  p.  171),  which  suspended  the  act  of  1790  for  one 
legislative  session.  It  is  quite  certain  that  the  seminary  did  not  get  the  benefit  of 
these  surveyors'  fees  for  very  long  nor  was  its  income  from  them  ever  very  large. 

3  See  references  to  sketches  of  Filson's  life  in  Chapter  I,  p.  12. 

4 The  Kentucky  Gazette  was  established  in  Lexington,  Ky.,  by  John  Bradford  and 
his  brother,  Fielding  Bradford,  on  August  11,  1787,  and  was  the  second  oldest  news- 
paper published  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  being  only  antedated  a  few  weeks  by  the 
Pittsburg  Gazette.  A  number  of  bound  volumes  of  the  early  numbers  of  the  Ken- 
tucky Gazette  are  now  in  the  city  library  of  Lexington,  and  furnish  much  valuable 
information  on  the  public  affairs  of  the  time,  in  which  its  editor,  John  Bradford, 
took  an  able  and  prominent  part. 


42  HISTORY   OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

town,  a  convenient  property  to  be  rented  until  suitable  buildings  were 
erected  on  the  seminary  lands  or  elsewhere.  Two  days  later  they 
appointed  Elias  Jones  as  "professor"  in  the  seminary,  at  a  salary  of 
£100,  payable  quarterly  from  March  1,  1789,  and  made  arrangements, 
if  the  number  of  pupils  justified  it,  to  have  a  grammar  master  at  £60, 
and  an  usher,  also,  if  needed.  A  subscription  paper  was  at  the  same 
time  drawn  up  to  secure  building  funds. 

The  response  by  the  Lexington  public  does  not  seem,  however,  to 
have  been  at  the  first  much,  if  any,  better  than  that  of  the  people  of 
Danville;  and  probably  because  the  revenue  from  the  leased  lauds — its 
only  source  of  income  at  the  time — was  too  small  to  pay  his  salary, 
Mr.  Jones  seems  never  to  have  taught  at  all  in  the  school,  as  we  find 
the  trustees,  on  April  15,  1789,  resolving  to  have  only  a  grammar 
master,  assisted  by  an  usher  if  there  were  more  than  fifteen  pupils. 
The  arrival  at  this  time  of  the  library  and  apparatus  given  by  Rev. 
Mr.  Todd  seems  to  have  been  some  encouragement,  and  it  was  decided 
to  open  the  school  immediately  at  some  convenient  place.  This  con- 
venient place  does  not  seem  to  have  been  easy  to  find  at  first,  and  an 
advertisement l  for.  a  teacher,  inserted  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette,  did 
not  even  receive  a  ready  response.  Mr.  Isaac  Wilson,  who  had  been 
for  some  time  master  of  Lexington  grammar  school,  however  soon 
applied  in  answer  to  the  advertisement,  and  after  being  examined  by  a 
committee  of  the  board  on  May  22, 1789,  was  employed  to  teach  for  six 
months  from  June  1,  1789,  "at  the  public  schoolhouse  adjacent  to  the 
Presbyterian  meetinghouse,  near  Lexington."2  This  building  was 
probably  the  seat  of  the  school  of  which  Mr.  Wilson  had  been  for  some 
time  master,  and  the  two  schools  were  thus  probably  united  for  the 
time.  Mr.  Wilson's  salary  was  to  be  at  the  rate  of  £100  per  annum, 
and  the  tuition  rate  in  the  seminary  was  fixed  at  £3  per  annum. 

The  new  master  opt-ned  the  school  at  the  appointed  date,  June  1, 
1789,  which  is  the  opening  day  of  the  school  in  Lexington.  He  went 
to  work  with  a  will,  it  seems,  making  a  considerable  success,  at  least 
locally,  with  the  school,  and  on  April  10, 1790,  what  may  be  called  the 
first  public  college  commencement  probably  occurring  in  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley  was  held  in  Lexington.  The  following  description  of  this 
commencement  is  taken  from  the  Kentucky  Gazette  of  April  26,  1790: 

Friday,  the  10th  instant,  was  appointed  for  examination  of  the  students  of  the 
Transylvania  Seminary  by  the  trustees.  In  the  presence  of  a  very  respectable  audi- 
ence several  elegant  speeches  were  delivered  by  th«  boys,  and  in  the  evening  a 
tragedy  :icted,  and  the  whole  concluded  with  a  farce.  The  several  masterly  strokes 
of  eloquence  throughout  the  performance  obtained  the  general  applause,  and  were 
acknowledged  by  an  universal  clap  from  all  present.  The  good  order  and  decorum 
observed  throughout  the  whole,  together  with  the  rapid  progress  of  the  school  in 
literature,  reflects  very  great  honor  on  the  president. 

1  In  the  issue  of  April  25,  1789. 

2  From  an  advertisement  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette  of  June  6,  1789,  which  speaks 
of  the  school  as  already  in  operation. 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  43 

The  act  of  December  20,  1790,  besides  granting  to  it  the  surveyors' 
fees,  gave  to  the  seminary  the  use  of  the  house  it  occupied  free  of  rent 
after  January  1,  1791,  "  so  long  as  the  public  shall  have  no  use  for  the 
same."  The  needed  subscriptions  which  had  been  solicited  not  being 
forthcoming,  loans  and  even  a  lottery  scheme1  were  resorted  to  in  vain 
to  supply  a  permanent  house  for  the  school.  Mr.  Wilson  had  been 
reelected  from  time  to  time,  but  the  number  of  scholars  on  April  13, 
1791,  was  reported  to  have  fallen  from  thirteen  to  five,  probably  largely 
on  account  of  the  Indian  wars  then  raging,  and  as  these  wars  had 
greatly  reduced  the  income  from  the  surveyors'  fees,  the  tuition  was 
raised  from  £3  to  £4.  At  the  samevtinie  Mr.  Wilson  severed  his  con- 
nection with  the  school. 

On  September  1, 1791,  Rev.  James  Moore,  a  Presbyterian  clergyman, 
lately  come  to  the  State  from  Virginia,  succeeded  Mr.  Wilson  as  master. 
The  latter  probably  reestablished  Lexington  grammar  school,  or 
academy,  in  the  house  lately  occupied  by  the  seminary,  for  we  hear 
later  of  overtures  from  the  seminary  trustees  looking  toward  its  union 
with  Lexington  academy,  and  the  seminary  seems  never  to  have  occupied 
its  former  quarters  again.  Its  master,  Rev.  James  Moore,  undoubtedly 
conducted  the  school  for  some  time  in  his  own  house,  as  is  evidenced 
by  certain  allowances  made  to  him  on  various  occasions  by  the  trustees 
in  the  way  of  rent.  Mr.  Moore's  salary  the  first  term2  was  £25  and 
the  tuition  fees,  and  the  second  term  £30  and  the  tuition  fees,  he  being 
allowed  in  each  case  to  charge  an  extra  fee  u  for  the  Roman  and  Greek 
classics."  The  income  from  the  surveyors'  fees  and  leased  lands  soon 
improved  somewhat,  and  the  seminary  gradually  became  more  prosper- 
ous under  Mr.  Moore,  whose  salary  was  made  £50  at  the  beginning  of 
his  second  year,  but  the  existence  of  the  school  was  still  somewhat 
precarious  and  its  location  still  undecided  until  April  8,  1793,  when  the 
offer  of  the  Transylvania  Laud  Company  was  accepted  and  the  insti- 
tution permanently  located  in  Lexington. 

'Although  the  writer  has  been  able  to  find  no  such  act  of  Virginia,  the  records  of 
the  trustees  show  that  a  scheme  of  a  lottery  for  raising  £500  for  tbe  purpose  of 
erecting  a  building  for  the  seminary  was  adopted  by  the  board  on  April  12,  1791, 
pursuant  to  an  act  of  the  general  assembly.  There  is  an  advertisement  of  this  lot- 
tery in  the  Kentucky  Gn/ette  of  April  23,  1791,  signed  by  a  committee  of  seven  of 
the  trustees,  and  containing  the  following  expression  of  what  would  now  be  consid- 
ered a  singular  blending  of  moral  ideas:  "  Since  the  cultivation  of  the  moral  virtues 
of  the  heart,  as  well  as  the  advancement  of  the  knowledge  of  the  rising  generation, 
is  an  object  equally  interesting  to  every  good  citizen,  it  is  earnestly  hoped  that  this 
scheme  will  attract  the  attention  and  patronage  of  the  public."  A  notice  in  the 
issue  of  April  21,  1792,  says  that  the  drawings  of  the  first  class  of  the  lottery  will 
take  place  on  June  20,  1792.  The  amount  realized  from  the  plan  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  large. 

2 The  college  year  for  many  years  in  the  early  history  of  Kentucky  was  divided 
into  two  terms,  one  beginning  in  May.  the  other  in  November,  April  and  October 
being  vacation  months.  Tbe  stated  meetings  of  the  seminary  trustees  always 
occurred  in  these  last  two  months. 


44  HISTORY   OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

This  Transylvania  Land  Company  was  composed  of  John  Bradford 
and  other  prominent  and  public-spirited  citizens  of  the  town,  who,  hav- 
ing organized  themselves  in  a  corporate  capacity  shortly  before  that 
time,  on  March  27, 1792,  purchased  a  lot l  (now  Gratz  Park),  upon  which 
a  plain  two-story  brick  house  had  been  previously  erected,  which,  on 
October  10,  1792,  they  offered  to  present  to  the  seminary  on  condition 
of  its  permanent  location  in  .Lexington.  This  offer  was  accepted  by 
the  trustees  on  April  8, 1793,  when  arrangements  were  made  "to  make 
the  house  habitable"2  for  the  school.  Lexington  was  then  rapidly 
becoming  the  most  important  commercial  point  in  the  upper  Mississippi 
Valley, :!  a  position  it  was  to  hold  for  some  time  to  come,  and  was  there- 
fore a  very  favorable  location  for  a  college  or  university.  The  perma- 
nent location  there  of  the  seminary  which  was  soon  to  develop  into  a 
university  made  the  town  for  two  generations  "the  literary  capital  of 
the  West,"  and  helped  it  to  hold  the  political  supremacy  of  the  State 
for  a  time.  The  organization  of  the  Transylvania  Laud  Company  was 
the  beginning  of  a  policy  of  generously  fostering  the  educational  enter- 
prises in  its  midst,  in  which,  as  a  rule,  from  that  time  forward,  the  town 
has  never  faltered.  The  members  of  the  new  company  especially  took 
a  great  interest  in  the  future  welfare  of  the  seminary,  to  whose  board 
of  trustees  a  number  of  them  were  soon  elected,  John  Bradford  becom- 
ing president  of  that  body  in  179  >  and  remaining  so  for  many  years. 

Mr.  Moore  was  continued  at  the  head  of  the  school,  which  now  at  last 
had  a  settled  home,  and  the  greater  prosperity  of  which,  at  least  finan- 
cially, is  shown  by  the  fact  that  on  October  10,  1793,  the  master's 
salary  was  fixed  at  £100  per  annum,  and  he  was  authorized  to  employ 
an  usher  at  £60,  to  teach  the  "Latin  and  Greek  classics,"  and  an  Eng- 
lish teacher  at  a  salary  of  £15,  and  the  tuition  in  that  department 
which  was  fixed  at  £2  10s.,  the  tuition  in  the  classical  department  being 
£4.  Arrangements  were  also  made  to  admit,  free  of  tuition,  as  many  as 
ten  orphan  boys.  The  general  condition  of  the  institution  is  shown 
by  the  following  advertisement  taken  from  the  Kentucky  Gazette  of 
December  6,  1793,  the  original  spelling  being  retained: 

The  Transylvania  Seminary  is  now  well  supplied  with  teachers  of  natural  and 
moral  philosophy,  of  the  mathematics,  and  of  the  learned  languages.  An  English 
teacher  is  also  introduced  into  the  Colledge  who  teaches  Reading,  Writing,  Arith- 
metic and  the  English  Grammar. 

1  Known  as  lot  No.  6 

2  From  the  nature  of  the  articles  purchased  for  this  purpose,  which  were  locks, 
hinges,  glass,  etc.,  the  house  was  evidently  an  old  one,  already  on  the  lot  when 
acquired  by  the  company  and  not  a  new  one  erected  after  the  purchase  of  the  lot 
by  them,  as  is  stated  by  several  writers  on  the  subject.     Neither  do  the  records  show 
that  the  seminary  was  required  to  pay  for  this  building,  as  is  also  frequently  stated. 
The  cost  of  the  house  is  given  as  £400. 

:?  Espy,  in  his  Tour  in  Kentucky  and  Indiana  in  1805,  p.  8,  says  that  its  main  street 
then  had  much  the  appearance  of  Market  street  in  Philadelphia.  He  adds  that  his 
brother,  who  was  then  at  Transylvania  University,  was  making  considerable  pro- 
ficiency "in  the  dead  languages  and  in  general  science." 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  45 

The  advertisement  concludes  with  the  following  statement: 

This  Seminary  is  the  best  seat  of  education  on  the  Western  Waters ;  and  it  is  to 
be  hoped  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  even  prejudice  itself  will  not  think  it 
necessary  to  transport  our  youths  to  the  Atlantic  States,  to  compleat  their  education. 

John  Price  was  the  English  teacher  at  this  time,  but  we  are  not 
informed  as  to  who  the  other  teacher  was  besides  Mr.  Moore.  The 
school  had,  however,  hardly  gotten  settled  in  its  new  home  and  made  a 
fair  start  toward  prosperity  when  it  experienced  the  first  of  the  many 
troubles  which  it  encountered  on  account  of  disagreement  among  the 
members  of  its  self-perpetuating  trustees  and  the  peculiar  relation  in 
which  it  stood  to  religious  denominations,  especially  the  Presbyterians. 

This  denomination,  through  whose  foresight  and  energy  the  school 
had  been  mainly  founded,  was  put  much  more  on  the  defensive  and  was 
more  sensitive  than  usual  in  regard  to  doctrinal  matters  on  account  of 
the  prevalence  at  that  time  in  Kentucky,  especially  among  her  public 
men,1  of  the  French  deistical  philosophy  of  the  day.  This  fact  is  to  be 
constantly  borne  in  mind  in  considering  the  attitude  of  the  Presby- 
terians toward  the  seminary.  They  had  mainly  iouuded  the  school, 
but  they  never  seemed,  either  then  or  afterwards,  to  have  attempted  to 
obtain  exclusive  denominational  control  over  it,  which,  by  reason  of 
their  preponderance  as  an  intellectual  factor  for  a  long  time  in  the 
early  history  of  the  State,  they  could  probably  have  been  able  to 
accomplish  on  more  than  one  occasion  by  the  aid  of  legislative  action, 
as  was  done  in  regard  to  other  schools  by  other  denominations.2  Their 
prominence  in  connection  with  the  management  and  administration  of 
the  school  for  some  time  seems  to  have  been,  on  their  part,  more  the 
natural  result  of  their  interest  in  such  matters  than  of  any  direct  inten- 
tion to  control  it.  It  is  probably  true,  as  Davidson  tells  us,  that  they 
voluntarily  retired  from  its  board  of  trustees,  and  allowed  prominent 
public  men  to  be  elected  in  their  places  in  order  to  increase  the  popu- 
larity of  the  institution.  It  was  doubtless  in  this  way  that  they  lost 
their  numerical  superiority  in  the  board.  They  were  satisfied  with  the 
school  and  were  willing  to  patronize  it  as  long  as  it  conformed  to  their 
ideals  of  what  such  a  school  should  be,  but  when  its  religious  tone  or 
teaching,  by  reason  of  other  control,  became  what  they  considered 
dangerous,  they  simply  withdrew  their  patronage  and  established  one 
that  better  suited  their  ideas  and  aims,  one  of  which  was  to  prepare 
suitable  ministers  for  the  church;  and  yet  they  were  willing  to  even 
take  the  initiative  in  coming  back  again  when  these  difficulties  were  out 
of  the  way.  They  were  also  equally  prompt  to  retire  again  and  establish 
another  rival  when  a  similar  emergency  arose. 

1  Several  authorities  agree  that  it  was  owing  to  the  prevalence  of  these  ideas  prob- 
ably that  ministers  of  the  gospel  were  excluded  from  public  offices  under  the  first 
and  second  constitutions  of  the  State,  a  state  of  things  they  considered  very  delete- 
rious to  the  interests  of  education,  especially  public-school  education. 

2 For  instance,  in  the  case  of  Bethel  Academy  and  the  Methodist  Church. 


46  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

Mr.  Moore  had  for  some  reason,1  which  does  not  appear,  become 
unsatisfactory  as  master  of  the  seminary,  and  on  February  5, 1794,  Rev. 
Harry  Toulmiu,  a  prominent  Baptist  minister  recently  come  to  the 
State  from  Virginia,  was  proposed  as  his  successor.  Mr.  Touhnin  was 
a  personal  friend  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  by  whom  he  was  strongly  recom- 
mended for  the  position.  He  was  also  a  man  of  ability,  and  subse- 
quently became  secretary  of  state  under  Governor  Garrard,  but  he  was 
suspected  of  Unitarian  sentiments  and  his  friendship  with  Mr.  Jefferson 
was  not  in  his  favor,  especially  in  the  eyes  of  the  Presbyterians,  as  on 
that  account  he  was  supposed  to  be  tinctured  with  French  philosophy,, 
or  infidelity,  as  they  considered  it.  His  candidacy  brought  on  a  contest 
in  the  board,  perhaps  intensified  by  jealousy  between  the  Baptists  and 
Presbyterians,  and  although  Mr.  Tpulmin  was  finally  elected  on  April 
7, 1794,  the  Presbyterian  members  were  greatly  dissatisfied  with  the 
situation,  and  most  of  them  resigned,  either  at  once  or  soon  after.  Mr. 
Toulmin's  salary  per  year  was  to  be  £100,  one-half  the  tuition  fees,  and 
a  residence.  He  was  to  take  office  on  October  9  following  his  election, 
but  Mr.  Moore  resigned  two  days  after  that  event  and  Mr.  Toulmiu  was 
inducted  into  office  on  June  30,  1794.  The  Presbyterians  determined 
at  once  to  establish  an  institution  more  distinctively  under  their  own 
control,  to  which  they  could  transfer  their  patronage.  Their  efforts 
resulted  in  the  founding  of  Kentucky  Academy,  the  history  of  which 
will  mainly  engage  our  attention  until  the  two  schools  are  subsequently 
united. 

KENTUCKY   ACADEMY. 

This  school  was  established  on  account  of  the  dissatisfaction  of 
the  Presbyterians  with  the  management  of  Transylvania  Seminary, 
especially  with  the  election  of  Mr.  Toulmin  as  its  master.  "  Father" 
Eice,  Judge  Wallace,  and  others,  prominent  in  founding  Transylvania 
Seminary,  were  also  leaders  in  establishing  the  new  school. 

The  initial  step  in  this  enterprise,  and  one  that  shows  its  purposes, 
was  the  issue  by  the  presbytery  of  Transylvania  on  April  22,  1794,  of 
an  address  to  the  people  of  Kentucky,  Cumberland,  and  the  Miami  Set- 
tlement,2 i)roposing  to  set  on  foot  a  grammar  school  and  public  semi- 
nary, meaning  by  the  latter  term  a  department  of  collegiate  grade, 
which  was  to  be  u  under  their  own  patronage"  and  "  might  furnish  the 
churches  with  able  and  faithful  ministers."3  It  was  to  be  under  the 
control  of  the  presbytery  in  a  general  way,  but  was  not  to  be  otherwise 

1  This  was  not  probably,  as  some  have  stated,  because  of  his  leaving  the  Presby^ 
terian  Church  at  this  time  on  account  of  his  trial  sermon  not  having  been  sustained 
by  the  Presbytery,  for  the  Presbyterians  later  put  him  at  the  head  of  their  own  dis- 
tinctive school,  Kentucky  Academy. 

2 Cumberland  was  the  country  around  Nashville,  Tenn.,  then  one  of  the  principal 
centers  of  population  in  that  State.  Miami  referred  to  the  settlement  on  the  Miami 
River,  occupying  a  similar  position  in  Ohio. 

3 Davidson's  Presbyterian  Church  iii  Kentucky,  p.  291. 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  47 

sectarian.  The  charter  of  the  school,  granted  by  the  State  legislature 
on  December  12,  1794,1  shows  its  spirit,  which  is  more  catholic  than 
sectarian,  in  the  following  provisions : 

(Sec.  7.)  The  president  of  the  said  academy  shall  be  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  of 
the  most  approved  abilities  in  literature  and  acquaintance  with  mankind  that  may  be 
obtained,  and  zealously  engaged  to  promote  the  interest  of  real  and  practical 
religion. 

(Sec.  15.)  No  endeavors  shall  be  used  by  the  president  or  other  teachers  to  influ- 
ence the  mind  of  any  student,  to  change  his  religious  tenets,  or  to  embrace  those  of 
a  different  denomination  any  further  than  is  consistent  with  the  general  belief  of 
the  gospel  system  and  the  practice  of  vital  piety. 

So,  while  not  narrow  in  spirit,  Kentucky  Academy  is  the  first  school 
in  the  State  to  be  called  denominational,  soon  to  be  one  of  the  char- 
acteristic features  of  Kentucky's  educational  institutions,  although  it 
was  not  strictly  so,  as  it  had  no  denominational  name  or  legal  church 
connection  and  was  really,  in  organization,  one  of  the  State  academies, 
the  first  one  chartered  by  Kentucky  as  an  independent  State.  Its 
charter  conformed  to  the  general  academy  plan  with  a  cooptative 
board  of  eighteen  trustees,  its  management  as  a  somewhat  distinctively 
Presbyterian  institution  being  secured  by  having  its  trustees  largely, 
if  not  entirely,  Presbyterians,  Rev.  David  Eice,  Judge  Wallace,  Eev. 
James  Blythe,  and  others,  prominent  in  local  Presbyterian  circles, 
being  among  their  number.  We  shall  see  Bethel,  another  of  the  State 
academies  founded  about  the  same  time,  also  soon  coming  under  a 
similar  denominational  control  for  a  time. 

The  presbytery,  soon  after  issuing  its  address,  appointed  a  committee 
of  forty- seven  as  canvassers  for  funds  to  inaugurate  the  proposed  institu- 
tion. These  proceeded  with  vigor,  and  soon  raised,  mainly  in  Kentucky, 
upwards  of  £1,000  ($3,333),  quite  a  respectable  sum  considering  the 
time  and  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  raised.  In  1795,  Eevs. 
David  Eice  and  James  Blythe  went  East  as  commissioners  from  the 
presbytery  to  the  general  assembly  of  the  church  at  Philadelphia,  and 
while  there  appealed  to  a  larger  Presbyterian  constituency  and  to 
general  benevolence.  They  succeeded  in  obtaining  in  the  Atlantic 
States  subscriptions  amounting  to  about  $10,000 2  to  aid  in  endowing 
the  new  educational  enterprise.  Among  other  prominent  contributors 
for  this  object  were  George  Washington,  John  Adams,  and  Aaron 
Burr,  the  first  two  contributing  $100  each  and  Burr  $50.:}  Washing- 
ton, in  connection  with  making  his  contribution,  is  said  to  have 
inquired  very  carefully  in  regard  to  the  state  of  learning  and  literature 
in  the  West,  as  Kentucky  was  then  called. 

'Littell's  Laws  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  pp.  228-230. 

2 Davidson's  Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky,  p.  164. 

3  This  is  as  given  by  Davidson  (Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky,  p.  124)  and 
other  authorities.  Peter's  Pennsylvania  University,  p.  62,  gives  one  of  the  original 
subscription  papers,  which  shows  this  sum  to  have  been  $40.  It  also  shows  that, 
among  other  prominent  public  men,  Robert  Morris  gave  $100. 


48  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

The  first  business  meeting  of  the  academy  trustees  was  held  on  March 
11,  1793, '  when  its  location  was  decided  upon  and  arrangements  made 
to  erect  the  necessary  buildings.  The  new  school  was  located  at  Pisgah, 
seven  miles  southwest  of  Lexington,  near  the  home  of  Judge  Wallace, 
and  had  as  its  initial  endowment,  as  we  have  seen,  about  $14,000.  Later, 
on  September  15,  1797,  it  received  a  small  but  valuable  library  and 
some  philosophical  apparatus,2  amounting  in  all  to  about  £80  in  value, 
through  Rev.  Dr.  Gordon,  of  London,  contributed  by  himself  and  other 
English  friends,  and  under  the  academy  act  of  February  10,  179S,3  it 
was  granted  6,000  acres  of  land  by  the  State. 

Its  grammar-school  department  seems  to  have  been  opened  on  October 
26,  1795,4  and  had  as  its  first  teacher  Rev.  Andrew  Steele.  On  April 
13,  1796,  Mr.  Steele  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  James  Moore,  formerly 
master  or  principal  of  Transylvania  Seminary.  Mr.  Moore  was 
reelected  to  his  former  position  in  Transylvania  Seminary  on  Septem- 
ber 23, 1796,  and  notices  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette  show  that  Mr.  Steele 
again  took  charge  of  the  academy,  John  Thomson  becoming  his  assist- 
ant on  October  6,  1797,  when  the  seminary  or  collegiate  department 
was  first  arranged  to  be  opened.  We  know  very  little  of  the  history  of 
the  school,  but  it  seems  in  the  main  to  have  been  fairly  successful  dur- 
ing the  period  of  its  existence.  The  last  meeti u g  of  its  trustees  occurred 
in  October,  1798,  when  the  question  of  its  union  with  Transylvania 
Seminary  was  finally  decided,  and  the  arrangements  looking  toward 
that  fiid  completed. 

Meanwhile  Transylvania  Seminary  seems  to  have  had  somewhat  of  a 
similar  history  under  Mr.  Toulmin.  The  funds  of  the  school  seem  for 
some  reason  to  have  become  low  again,  and  so  we  find  that  on  the  day 
he  took  the  oath  of  office  the  previous  order  of  the  trustees  allowing 
free  scholarships  was  revoked.  Only  two  teachers  were  employed 
during  the  administration,  the  assistant  teacher  for  at  least  most  of 
the  time  being  Jesse  Bledsoe,  later  one  of  the  distinguished  law  pro- 
fessors of  Transylvania  University.  It  is  probably  true  that  several 
of  the  State  academies,  especially  Salem  Academy,  at  Bardstown,' 
being  in  various  ways  situated  under  somewhat  more  favorable  circum- 
stances, were  more  highly  prosperous  about  this  time  than  either  Tran- 
sylvania Seminary  or  Kentucky  Academy.  The  people  of  most  portions 
of  the  State,  especially  that  around  Lexington,  then  the  commercial 
and  for  a  time  the  political  center  of  the  State,  were  too  deeply  engrossed 
in  the  Indian  wars  of  the  Northwest,  the  reform  of  the  criminal  stat- 


'  Bishop's  Church  in  Kentucky,  p.  97. 

-Ranck  aud  others  mention  certain  antiquated  pieces  of  apparatus,  now  in  Ken- 
tucky University,  as  being  probably  parts  of  this  old  donation.  They  probably 
either  belonged  to  it  or  to  the  apparatus  given  by  Colonel  Todd,  or  perhaps  to  both. 

3  See  references  to  Toulmin  and  other  authorities  in  Chapter  II. 

4 This  is  according  to  Bradford  (Notes,  p.  438)  and  is  probably  correct.  Davidson 
says  the  opening  occurred  early  in  1795,  soon  after  the  presbytery  had  issued  its 
address. 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  49 

utes,  the  resolutions  of  1798,  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi 
liiver,  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  and  similar  matters  to  pay  very 
much  attention,  to  education.  Later  the  war  of  1812  became  a  matter 
of  all  absorbing,  interest,  in  which  struggle  we  have  accounts  of  teach- 
ers and  scholars,  especially  in  the  "old-field"  schools,  enlisting  almost 
en  masse. 

Frequent  calls  for  meetings  through  the  columns  of  the  Kentucky 
Gazette,  and  the  passage  of  a  law  by  the  legislature  in  1795  l  making 
seven  members  a  quorum  for  all  ordinary  business,  because  it  seems 
more  would  not  attend  their  meetings,  show  that  even  the  trustees 
were  not  very  careful  in  regard  to  their  duties.  The  course  of  study 
in  Transylvania  Seminary  was  laid  out  by  a  committee  of  the  board 
early  in  Mr.  Toulmin's  administration,  probably  at  his  suggestion,  and 
arrangements  were  made  to  enlarge  the  library.  It  is  rather  interest- 
ing to  note  the  curriculum  laid  down,  as  showing  the  scope  of  the 
work  then  done  and  the  ideas  of  classification  then  in  use.  The  fol- 
lowing division  of  subjects  is  given :  Professional — the  Greek,  Latin, 
and  French  languages,  and  bookkeeping;  nonprofessional — geometry, 
geography,  politics,  composition,  elocution,  moral  philosophy,  astron- 
omy, history,  logic,  and  natural  philosophy.  Additional  library  facili- 
ties were  at  this  time  secured  by  the  foundation,  on  October  8,  1794, 
of  what  is  now  the  city  library  of  Lexington,  then  first  established 
by  a  stock  company  on  the  share  plan  and  for  some  time  located  in  the 
seminary  building. 

Mr.  Toulmin  was  unanimously  reelected  at  the  end  of  his  first  year's 
service,  bi-t  voluntarily  retired  on  April  4,  1796.  In  a  letter  in  the 
Kentucky  Gazette,  on  April  9,  17i>6,  he  gives  as  the  principal  reason 
for  his  withdrawal  the  smallness  of  the  salary  attached  to  the  ofhce, 
but  also  intimates  that  the  state  of  public  opinion  in  regard  to  the 
school  was  not  very  satisfactory,  owing  probably  to  the  contest  which 
arose  at  the  time  of  his  first  election.  Some  acts2  of  the  legislature 
passed  during  his  administration,  which  were  calculated  to  interfere 
with  the  powers  and  rights  of  the  trustees,  but  which  seem  never  to 
have  been  pressed  to  any  definite  result,  are  probably  evidences  of 
this  dissatisfaction.  The  financial  condition  of  the  school  had  improved 
somewhat,  as  it  was  arranged  on  June  1 0,  1795,  to  erect  a  dormitory 
for  it  at  a  cost  of  £1,073£,  which  amount  was  derived  from  the  rent  of 
the  seminary  lands.  Soon  after  his  retirement  from  the  seminary  Mr. 
Toulmiu  became  secretary  of  state  under  Governor  Garrard  and  was 
subsequently  a  federal  judge  in  Alabama. 

On  September  23, 1796,  Kev.  James  Moore  was  again  called  to  the 
head  of  the  seminary,  with  the  same  salary  as  that  of  his  predecessor. 

1  Passed  December  21.     See  Tonlmin's  Acts  of  Kentucky,  p.  467,  and  Littell's 
Laws  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  576-577. 

2  One  passed  November  21,  1795,  suspended  the  trustees  from  office  until  the  end 
of  that  legislative  session,  and  another,  passed  December  21,  1795,  put  them  under 
the  control  of  the  court  in  the  judicial  district  in  which  they  met. 

2127— No.  25 4 


50  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

The  active  rivalry  between  it  and  Kentucky  Academy  seems  to  have 
ceased  as  soon  as  Mr.  Toulmin,  whose  election  bad  caused  the  sepa- 
ration, had  resigned.  The  members  of  the  two  boards  most  deeply 
interested  in  the  cause  of  education,  parti cularly  Judge  Wallace,  seem 
soon  to  have  thought  of  the  union  ot  the  two  schools,  desiring  to  build 
up  an  institution  that  might  be  a  credit  and  honor  to  the  State  by  com 
bining  the  two  endowments.  Moderation  and  good  sense  prevailing, 
this  commendable  object  was  at  length  accomplished  after  considerable 
discussion  and  deliberation.  A  proposition  for  the  union  came  from  the 
academy  trustees  as  early  as  June  3,  179G,  and  on  September  23  of 
that  year  was  reported  on  by  a  committee  of  the  seminary  trustees  as 
"for  the  public  good"  and  "consistent  with  the  laws." J  On  October  10 
following,  committees  of  the  two  boards  agreed  upon  a  plan  of  union 
practically  the  same  as  that  subsequently  adopted,  but  for  some  reason, 
although  it  was  at  first  accepted  by  the  seminary  board  the  next  day,  this 
was  debated  and  discussed  at  intervals  for  over  two  years,  whether  on 
account  of  the  academy  trustees  insisting,  MS  one  of  the  conditions  of 
union,  that  the  students  should  be  required  to  attend  prayers  daily  and 
church  service  on  Sunday  does  not  appear,  although  this  was  in  the 
terms  proposed  by  the  academy  trustees  and  may  have  been  one  of  the 
questions  at  issue. 

Meanwhile,  Transylvania  Seminary,  although  apparently  growing 
more  prosperous,  as  is  shown  by  the  appointment,  on  October  10, 1797, 
at  the  same  time  that  Mr.  Moore  was  unanimously  reelected,  of  a  French 
teacher  at  a  salary  of  $50  and  the  tuition  in  his  department,  even  made 
propositions  for  union  to  another  school  in  Lexington — Lexington 
Academy;  but  finally,  on  November  2,  1798,  the  union  with  Kentucky 
Academy  was  definitely  agreed  upon.  This  union  was,  upon  joint  peti- 
tion of  the  two  boards  drawn  up  November  3,  1798,  and  consummated 
by  an  act  of  the  State  legislature  on  December  22, 1798.2  This  action  was 
not  indorsed  by  "  Father"  Rice  and  some  other  promoters  and  friends 
of  Kentucky  Academy,  who  still  mistrusted  the  management  of  Tran- 
sylvania Seminary,  but  was  largely  brought  about,  by  the  influence  of 
Judge  Wallace,  a  friend  of  both  schools  and  ot  the  cause  of  education 
in  general.  It  was,  as  we  have  seen,  only  part  of  a  splendid  educational 
plan,  of  which  the  academy  act  of  the  same  date  was  another  part,  for 
the  conception  of  which  Judge  Wallace  is  entitled  to  imperishable  honor. 

THE   UNIVERSITY   PROPER. 

January  1,  1799,  the  day  on  which  the  act  of  December  22,  1798, 
went  into  effect,  may  be  truly  called  the  natal  day  of  Transylvania 
University,  as  the  combined  institution  was  called  in  the  act  of  union. 
The  history  of  the  new  university  from  this  time  forward  may  be,  in 

1  Records  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Transylvania  Seminary. 

2  Toulinin's  Acts  of  Kentucky,  pp.  467-469;  LittelFs  Laws  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  II, 
pp.  234-236. 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  51 

%^LiF 

general,  according  to  Collins,  divided  intofirar~f)eriods,  as  follows : 
(1)  That  from  1799  to  1818,  (2)  from  1818  to  1827,  (3)  from  1827  to  1849, 
and  (4)  from  1849  to  1865. 

PERIOD  FROM  1799  TO  1818. 

The  joint  petition  of  the  two  boards  to  the  legislature  asking  for  the 
act  of  union  is  of  interest  as  showing  the  ideas  and  purposes  had  in 
view  in  their  action.  The  main  clause  of  its  preamble  reads  as  follows: 

That  the  respective  boards  of  the  said  trustees,  contemplating  the  many  singular 
advantages  to  be  derived  to  this  remote  country  from  promoting  therein  a  univer- 
sity well  endowed  and  properly  conducted,  more  especially  as  by  this  measure 
only  many  of  our  youths  can  be  prevented  from  going  into  other  countries  to  com- 
plete their  education,  where  they  must  greatly  exhaust  their  fortunes,  and  from 
whence  they  may  probably  return  with  corrupted  principles  and  morals  to  be  the 
pests  and  not  the  ornaments  of  the  community,  and  further  contemplating  that 
the  uniting  of  several  of  the  institutions  of  learning  which  have  been  originated 
in  this  country  is  essential  to  the  speedy  attainment  of  that  object;  therefore,  the 
said  boards  of  trustees  have  unanimously  resolved  and  mutually  agreed  on  the  fol- 
lowing terms  of  union,  which  they  also  consider  very  desirable  in  many  points  of 
view.1 

Then  follows  the  plan  of  union,  which  will  not  be  quoted  at  length. 
It  was  simply,  in  effect,  an  enlargement  of  the  Transylvania  Seminary 
act  of  1783,  as  the  laws  regulating  the  seminary  were  to  be  those  regu- 
lating the  university,  unless  altered  by  the  legislature  upon  joint  peti- 
tion of  a  majority  of  its  new  board  of  trustees,  and  the  seat  of  the 
university  was  to  be  Lexington,  unless  changed  by  a  two  thirds  vote 
of  that  board.  The  more  distinctive  outlines  of  a  university  are  to  be 
seen  in  the  new  charter  in  the  extension  somewhat  of  the  already  ample 
powers  conferred  by  the  seminary  charter,  in  the  arrangement  of  a 
broad  plan  of  possible  union  with  other  schools,  in  the  system  of  pre- 
paratory schools  provided  for.  as  noticed  in  connection  with  the  history 
of  the  early  university  system,  and  in  the  establishment  of  free  scholar- 
ships for  deserving  poor  students. 

The  new  institution,  by  the  union  of  the  funds  of  the  academy  and 
seminary,  also  began  to  have  quite  a  respectable  endowment  for  the 
time.  Kentucky  Academy,  according  to  a  report  of  a  committee  of  its 
trustees  made  October  1 1, 1796,2  possessed  nearly  $8,000  in  cash,  reliable 
subscriptions,  books,  and  apparatus,  besides  the  6,000  acres  of  land 
later  given  to  it  by  the  State;  while  Transylvania  Seminary  had,  besides 
its  educational  plant  in  Lexington,  14,000  acres  of  laud,  having,  as 
Davidson3  tells  us,  secured  an  additional  6,000  acres  under  the  general 
academy  act  of  1798,  thus  making  the  combined  land  endowment, 
according  to  various  estimates,  to  be  worth  from  140,000  to  $179,000. 
He  also  informs  us  that  the  combined  chemical  and  philosophical 


1  Records  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Transylvania  Seminary. 

2  £2,298  14s.  lOfd.,  Records  of  Trustees  of  Transylvania  Seminary. 


;  Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky,  p.  296. 


52  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

apparatus  of  the  new  institution  was  good,  and  that  its  library  numbered 
1,300  volumes. 

The  legislature  had  selected,  as  trustees,  the  list  of  twenty-one  names 
submitted  to  them  in  the  petition,  instead  of  accepting  the  other  alterna- 
tive proposed,  to  unite  the  two  old  boards  and  not  allow  any  vacancies 
to  be  filled  until  twenty-one  members  were  left.  The  new  board  was 
made  up  of  eight  members  selected  from  each  of  the  old  ones,  and  five 
others,  including  Judge  Wallace,  John  Bradford,  George  Nicholas, 
James  Garrard,  and  other  prominent  public  men,  and  was  constituted 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  the  Presbyterians  a  representation  of  one-, 
half  or  more  of  the  whole.  The  new  body  was  on  the  same  cooptative 
basis  as  the  old  one,  and  unfortunately  some  of  the  old  factional  spirit 
seems  to  have  remained  among  its  members. 

Eev.  James  Moore,  now  an  Episcopalian,  was  continued  at  the  head 
of  the  new  university  as  its  president,  and  had  associated  with  him  in 
its  faculty  Eev.  James  tttythe.  M.  D.,  D.D.,  and  Eev.  Eobert  Stuart, 
both  Presbyterians,  the  respective  chairs  of  the  three  being  mental 
philosophy,  logic,  and  bellesrlettres,  mathematics  and  natural  philoso- 
phy, and  languages.  The  president's  salary  was  $500  and  certain  per- 
quisites, including  a  residence,  while  that  of  the  professors  was  $400 
each.  At  their  first  meeting  under  the  new  regime,  on  January  8, 1799, 
the  trustees  gave  the  institution  the  appearance  of  a  real  university 
by  appointing  Hon.  George  Nicholas,  professor  of  law  and  politics,  and 
Drs.  Samuel  Brown  and  Frederick  Eidgely,  professors  respectively  of 
chemistry  and  surgery.1 

Mr.  Nicholas  had  been  prominent  in  Virginia,  especially  in  the  con- 
vention that  adopted  the  Federal  constitution,  and  is  called  by  Butler2 
practically  the  author  of  the  first  constitution  of  Kentucky,  to  which 
State  he  had  come  shortly  before  the  meeting  of  its  first  constitutional 
convention,  and  "the  most  eminent  lawyer  of  his  time,  whether  his 
learning  or  his  powers  of  mind  be  regarded."  He  began  a  course  of 
instruction  in  law  in  the  university  to  a  class  of  about  nineteen  students, 
among  whom,  it  appears,  were  William  T.  Barry  and  others,  subse- 
quently celebrated  in  Kentucky  history,  but  died  before  tlie  end  of  the 
year,  the  remaining  lectures  and  the  examination  of  his  class  being 
taken  charge  of  on  August  7  of  that  year  by  a  committee  of  the 
trustees,  themselves  prominent  lawyers. 

Dr.  Brown  is  famous  as  being  the  first3  regular  medical  professor  in 


JThe  transcript  of  the  minutes  of  the  trustees  ex;imined  by  the  writer  calls  these 
chairs  simply  chairs  of  medicine.  They  are  given  in  the  list  as  usually  stated  in 
most  authorities.  Peter's  Transylvania  University,  page  77,  gives  them  as  chemistry, 
anatomy,  and  surgery,  and  materia  medica,  midwifery,  and  practice  of  physic.  It 
is  quite  certain  that  Dr.  Ridgely  gave  lectures  on  surgery. 

2 History  of  Kentucky,  p.  206. 

3  He  was  appointed  before  Dr.  Ridgely.  Dr.  Brown  vaccinated  as  many  as  500 
people  in  Lexington  and  vicinity  before  any  other  physician  in  America  would  try 
the  experiment. 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  53 

the  West  and  for  his  achievements  in  the  introduction  of  vaccination 
into  America.  He  was  connected  with  the  medical  faculty  of  the  uni- 
versity until  1806  and  again  from  1819  to  1828. 

Dr.  Ridgely  is  noted  as  being  the  first  to  deliver  medical  lectures  in 
the  West  and  as  being  the  preceptor  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  B.  W.  Dud- 
ley, afterwards  so  long  and  successfully  connected  with  the  university 
faculty.  Dr.  Ridgely  lectured  about  this  time  to  a  class  of  six  medical 
students,  but  seems  to  have  done  so  in  an  individual  capacity,  as 
both  his  appointment  and  that  of  Dr.  Brown  as  professors  in  the  uni- 
versity seem  to  have  been,  at  this  early  period,  merely  nominal. 

On  October  18,  1799,  Hon.  James  Brown,  a  member  of  a  family  then 
and  since  very  prominent  in  the  history  of  the  State,  became  Mr. 
Nicholas's  successor  as  professor  of  law.  This  chair  for  the  remainder 
of  this  period  was  occupied  for  short  intervals  by  Henry  Clay,  who  was 
elected  October  10,  1805;  James  Muuroe,  elected  October  16,  1807; 
John  Pope,  elected  March  1, 1814,  and  John  Breckinridge,  elected  April 
18,  1817,  all  of  whom  probably  lectured  more  or  less. 

On  November  4,  1799,  Rev.  James  Welch  succeeded  Rev.  Robert 
Stuart  as  professor  of  languages.  He  held  the  position  until  July  17, 
1801,  when  some  difficulty  with  the  students  caused  him  to  resign,  and 
on  July  23  following  Alexander  McKeehan  was  elected  to  the  chair. 
Considerable  trouble  seems,  for  some  reason,  to  have  been  connected 
with  this  chair,  for  we  find  that,  on  October  7,  1802,  Rev.  Andrew 
Steele,  formerly  connected  with  Kentucky  Academy,  succeeded  Mr. 
McKeehan,  and  that  on  November  3,  1803,  he  was  succeeded  by  James 
Hamilton,  and  he  in  turn,  on  October  1, 1804,  by  Ebenezer  Sharpe,  who 
was  either  more  fortunate  or  more  efficient  than  his  predecessors,  for 
he  held  the  position  until  the  end  of  this  period. 

We  know  that  the  number  of  students  in  attendance  upon  the  uni- 
versity was  not  large  about  the  end  of  this  period,  and  there  were,  prob- 
ably, comparatively  few1  during  Mr,  Moore's  presidency.  A  college 
course  of  fairly  good  compass  for  the  time  was,  however,  maintained,  and 
on  April  7, 1802,  the  first  degree  granted  by  the  institution,  that  of  A.  B., 
was  conferred  on  Robert  R.  Barr.  On  October  6,  of  the  same  year,  the 
same  degree  was  conferred  on  Josiah  Stoddard  Johnston  and  Augustine 
C.  Respass.  Mr.  Johnston  subsequently  became  United  States  Senator 
from  Louisiana. 

For  some  reason,  not  app'arent,  a  misunderstanding  seems  soon  to 
have  arisen  between  Mr.  Moore  and  the  trustees,  and  on  October  4, 
1804,  Dr.  Blythe  was  asked  to  act  as  president,  while  still  retaining 
his  professorship,  and  on  November  '4  following,  Mr.  Moore  having 
resigned  the  presidency,  his  chair  was  filled  by  the  appointment  of 

1  Davidson  tells  us  that,  at  the  close  of  the  century,  there  were  45  students  in  the 
academic  department,  19  law  students,  and  6  medical  students.  For  further  state- 
ments in  regard  to  the  early  attendance,  see  Peter's  Transylvania  University,  pp. 
90-91. 


54  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

Rev.  Robert  H.  Bishop,  A.  M.,  who  held  the  position  until  1824.1  Mr. 
Moore  did  not,  however,  lose  his  interest  in  the  institution  or  sever  his 
connection  with  it  entirely,  as  we  find  he  became  a  trustee  in  1805,  and 
remained  one  for  some  time  afterwards.  He  subsequently  devoted 
himself  mainly  to  the  work  of  his  church,  becoming,  in  1809,  the  first 
regular  rector  of  Christ's  Episcopal  Church,  in  Lexington,  He  was 
distinguished  for  his  learning,  piety,  and  courtesy,  and  had  done  con- 
siderable under  the  circumstances  toward  laying  the  foundation  of 
Transylvania's  future  prosperity.2 

Rev.  Dr.  Blythe  remained  as  acting  president  of  the  university  until 
near  the  end  of  this  period,  during  which  time  the  institution  grew  in 
a  sound  and  healthy,  though  moderate  way.  The  course  of  instruction 
in  its  academic  department  was  soon  brought  up  to  an  equality  with 
that  of  the  Eastern  colleges,  except  in  the  classics,  which  were  then 
regarded  as  of  somewhat  secondary  importance  in  the  West,  and  on 
October  31,  1812,  an  extra  teacher  was  added  to  the  faculty  of  this 
department  in  the  person  of  John  B.  Fouchier,  who  was  made  instructor 
in  French. 

Dr.  Blythe  also  endeavored  to  develop  the  professional  departments, 
especially  that  of  medicine.  Dr.  Elisha  Wartield  had  already,  in  1802, 
been  added  to  the  medical  faculty,  as  yet  only  prospective,  as  professor 
of  surgery  and  midwifery,  and  in  1805  Rev.  James  Fishback.  M.  D.,  was 
appointed  to  the  chair  of  theory  and  practice  of  medicine,  thus  making, 
with  Dr.  Brown,  who  held  the  chair  ot  chemistry,  what  may  be  called 
the  first  regular  faculty  of  the  department.  No  teaching  was,  however, 
done  at  this  time,  and  all  the  professors  resigned  their  chairs  in  1806. 
On  April  8,  1809,  a  more  complete  faculty  was  organized,  among  whom 
the  celebrated  Dr.  Dudley  appears  for  the  first  time.  The  professors 
and  their  chairs  were  as  follows :  Dr.  B.  W.  Dudley,  anatomy  and  physi- 
ology; Dr.  Joseph  Buchanan,  institutes  of  medicine;  Dr.  James  Over- 
ton,  materia  medica,  and  Dr.  Elisha  Warfield,  surgery  and  midwifery. 
Dr.  Dudley  remained  in  this  faculty  one  or  two  years,  but  neither  he  nor 
any  of  his  colleagues  seem  to  have  delivered  any  lectures  at  this  time. 

Another  reorganization  of  the  faculty  took  place  on  November  11, 
1815,  when  Drs.  Thomas  Cooper,  B.  W.  Dudley,  Colemau  Rogers,  Sam- 
uel Brown,  William  H.  Richardson,  and  Charles  W.  t-hort  were  elected 
to  chairs.3  All  of  these,  however,  declined  except  Drs.  Dudley  and 
Richardson,  the  former  of  whom  lectured  regularly  in  his  department 
of  surgery,  and  the  latter  occassioually  in  1816-17,  a  committee  of  the 
trustees  reporting  to  this  effect  on  February  22,  1817,  when  it  is  also 
stated  that  Dr.  Richardson  had  fifteen  or  sixteen  students  in  his  depart- 

1  He  resigned  at  that  time  to  become  president  of  Miami  University,  Ohio. 

2  A  short  sketch  of  Mr.  Moore  is  to  be  lound  iii  Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I, 
p.  442. 

3  The  first  names  of  Drs.  Cooper  and  Rogers  are  here  taken  from  Peter's  Transyl- 
vania University,  pp.  95-96,  where  the  chairs  of  all  these  prospective  professors  are 
also  given. 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  55 

ment  of  midwifery  and  would  lecture  regularly  in  the  future.  On 
December  10,  1816,  Dr.  Daniel  Drake  was  elected  professor  of  materia 
medica,  and  on  February  28, 1817.  Dr.  James  Overtoil  became  professor 
of  theory  and  practice  of  medicine  and  Dr.  Blythe  was  transferred  to  the 
chair  of  chemistry.  These,  with  Drs.  Dudley  and  Richardson,  became 
the  first  active  medical  faculty  of  Transylvania  University.  They 
lectured  regularly  during  the  session  of  1817-18  to  a  class  of  about 
twenty  students,  and  in  1818  the  first  medical  commencement  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley  was  held  at  Lexington,  the  degree  of  M.  D.  being 
conferred  on  one  candidate,  John  L.  McCullough. 

The  funds  of  the  institution  also  improved  during  this  period.  The 
greater  part  of  the  original  endowment  grant  of  8,000  acres  of  land, 
which  had  been  previously  leased  for  long  terms  at  a  low  rate,  had  been 
sold,  about  1812,  for  $30,000,  which  was  invested  in  stock  of  the  Bank  of 
Kentucky,  and  with  its  increments  and  the  income  accruing  from  other 
sources,  Davidson1  tells  us,  made  the  money  endowment  of  the  institu- 
tion, in  1812,  $67,r>32. 

We  now  begin  to  find  many  resolutions  passed  by  the  trusses  look- 
ing toward  the  erection  of  a  new  building,  the  means  for  \vhirh  were  to 
be  at  least  partly  obtained  by  selling  a  portion  of  the  old  campus,  which 
was  to  be  divided  by  having  streets2  run  through  it.  Steps  were  also 
taken  with  a  view  of  securing  "a  gentleman  of  ability  and  talents"  for 
president.  Counter  propositions  were  also  made  to  simply  repair  the 
old  building  and  let  affairs  proceed  in  much  the  old  way.  Rev.  Dr. 
E.  Nott,  lie v.John  B.  Komeyne,3  and  finally  Rev.  Horace  Holley,  D.D., 
were  successively  invited  by  the  trustees  to  accept  the  presidency  of 
the  university,  and  then  this  action  was  rescinded  in  favor  of  retaining 
Dr.  Blythe.  There  were  evidently  factions4  in  the  board,  and  strong 
differences  of  opinion  as  to  the  proper  policy  to  be  pursued,  rumors  of 
which  soon  began  to  reach  the  public  ear,  for,  as  early  as  December  29, 
1815,  we  hear  of  a  legislative  committee  being  appointed  to  inquire 
into  the  state  of  the  institution,  in  answer  to  which  action  the  board 
issued  aii  address  to  the  public,  and  on  February  3,  1816,  appointed  a 
committee  to  defend  the  university  before  the  State  senate  against 
calumniating  reports,  and  two  days  later  John  Pope  was  employed  as 
counsel  for  that  purpose. 

In  1816  the  university  grounds  were  ornamented  with  shrubbery  and 
otherwise  greatly  improved,  and  also  considerably  enlarged  through 

1  Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky,  p.  297 ;  Davidson  says  the  sale  of  lands  occurred 
about  1806,  but  the  records  of  the  trustees  show  that  the  principal  sale  occurred  in 
1812. 

2  Mill  and  Market  streets  were  ruu  through  it  at  this  period,  and  a  small  strip  on 
the  west,  cut  off  by  Mill  street,  sold  to  Thomas  January  for  $1,000.     The  running 
through  of  a  street  from  east  to  west  and  the  sale  of  one-half  the  campus  thus  divided 
was  also  discussed. 

3  Dr.  Nott  was  then  president  of  Union  College,  New  York,  and   Eev.  John  B. 
Rorueyue  was  a  prominent  Presbyterian  clergyman  of  New  York. 

4  See  Davidson's  Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky,  p.  298,  for  these  factions. 


56  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

the  liberality  of  several  friends  of  the  institution,  including  the  cele- 
brated statesman  Henry  Clay,  the  Higgins  lot,  now  the  western  part 
of  the  Kentucky  University  campus,  having  been  acquired  in  the  latter 
part  of  this  year,  partly  by  donation  and  partly  by  purchase.  In  1817 
the  erection  of  a  large  and  handsome  new  brick  building  was  begun. 
It  was  completed  in  1818,  was  located  near  the  center  of  the  old  cam- 
pus, was  three  stories  in  height,  and  contained  thirty  rooms.  It 
included,  besides  the  rooms  set  apart  for  academic  purposes,  a  dormi- 
tory and  refectory,  with  accommodations  for  a  hundred  students,  liev. 
Luther  Eice,  a  prominent  Baptist  clergyman,  had  been  called  to  the 
presidency  in  March,  1816,  and  in  April,  1817,  Philip  Lindsley,  later  and 
long  the  distinguished  president  of  the  University  of  Nashville,  was 
elected  to  the  position.  These  both  declined,  and  on  October  25, 1817, 
Dr.  Holley  was  again  balloted  for,  ineffectually  at  that  time,  but  on 
November  25  following  he  was  unanimously  elected,  at  a  salary  of 
$2,250 l  per  annum,  an  amount  which  shows  the  improved  financial  con- 
dition of  the  university.  After  a  visit  to  Lexington,  during  the  follow- 
ing summer,  Dr.  Holley  formally  accepted  the  position. 

Dr.  Blythe  had,  on  March  23,  181(>,  after  one  or  two  previous  resig- 
nations which  he  had  been  induced  to  withdraw,  finally  resigned  his 
professorship,  and  with  it  the  acting  presidency  of  the  university.  He 
had  remained  at  its  head  for  twelve  years,  during  which  time  it  had 
made  considerable  progress.  He  was  too  exclusive  to  be  popular,  but 
was  a  diligent  and  efficient  teacher  and  a  man  of  ability.  Collins2  tells 
us  that  he  had  "native  strength  of  character,  prompt  decision,  and  a 
practical  turn  which  enabled  him  to  acquit  himself  well  in  every  situa- 
tion." On  February  28,  1817,  he  was  elected  professor  of  chemistry  in 
the  medical  department  of  the  university,  which  was  then  first  regu- 
larly opened,  a  position  which  he  retained  until  1831.  Just  prior  to  his 
resignation  in  1816  the  trustees  had  furnished  him  with  $1,000  for  the 
purchase  of  apparatus  for  the  chemical  department. 

On  February  3,  1818,  occurred  what  may  be  called  the  closing  inci- 
dent of  this  period  of  the  university's  history.  On  that  date,  at  whose 
solicitation  it  does  not  appear,  an  act3  was  passed  by  the  legislature 
removing  the  old  board  of  trustees  and  appointing  a  new  one  of  thir- 
teen members,  eight  of  them  being  at  the  time  members  of  the  old 
board,  and  another,  Henry  Clay,  having  been  formerly  so.  The  new 
body  was  composed  of  prominent  public  men  of  excellent  merit,  but  of 

1  This  is  the  correct  amount  of  his  salary  at  first,  and  not  $3,000,  as  usually  stated. 
He  did  receive  the  latter  amount  at  a  later  period  in  his  administration.  The  salary 
of  the  professors  was  $1,000  in  1818,  and  was  later  made  as  much  as  $1,800  in  some 
cases. 

*  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  463.  Another  sketch  of  his  life  is  to  be  found  in 
Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  592. 

:!Acts  of  1818,  pp.  554-556:  Among  the  thirteen  trustees  were  Henry  Clay,  Robert 
Trimble,  Edmund  Bullock,  John  T.  Mason,  jr.,  Robert  Wickliffe,  John  Pope,  John 
Brown,  and  Charles  Humphreys. 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  57 

no  special  religious  pretensions  or  connections.  The  religious  appre- 
hensions of  the  Presbyterians,  especially  of  the  old  board,  already  per- 
haps considerably  aroused  by  the  alleged  Socinianisin }  of  Dr.  Holley, 
the  new  president,  whose  last  election  had  been  unanimous,  because 
they  had  refused  to  take  any  part  in  it,  were  further  intensified  by  this 
action  which  they  considered  dangerous  in  its  religious  tendencies  and 
which  they  also  regarded  as  illegal,2  in  that  it  had  not  been  petitioned 
for  by  a  majority  of  the  trustees,  as  required  by  the  charter.  We  shall 
find  these  circumstances  rather  adverse  to  the  interests  of  the  univer- 
sity in  raising  up  against  it  a  strong  religious  prejudice  in  the  public 
mind  generally  and  in  causing  the  Presbyterians  particularly  to  be  very 
unfavorably  disposed  toward  the  new  administration  and  very  much 
inclined  to  withdraw  their  patronage,  as  we  shall  soon  see  them  doing. 
At  the  same  time  this  act  of  reorganization  had  its  beneficial  effect, 
as  expressed  by  a  committee  of  the  two  houses  of  the  legislature  in 
1827,  in  taking  Transylvania  University  u  into  their  more  immediate 
protection,773  and  attempting  to  make  of  it  more  distinctively  a  State 
institution  and  to  build  it  up  into  a  great  university  under  State  aus- 
pices. The  old  board,  in  view  of  their  going  out  of  office,  issued,  on 
February  28,  1818,  an  address  on  the  interests  and  prospects  of  the 
university,  the  former  of  which  they  considered  of  great  public  impor- 
tance, the  latter  very  flattering.  This  was  their  last  official  act. 

The  attendance  during  this  early  part  of  the  institution's  history 
was  not  large,  as  the  records  of  the  trustees  report,  on  October  18, 
1817,  that  there  had  been  77  students  the  past  session.4  The  slow 
growth  in  the  number  of  students  may  be  partly  accounted  for  by  the 
preoccupation  of  the  people  in  other  matters  and  by  the  constant  ele- 
vation of  the  standard  of  scholarship  which  made  entrance  more  diffi- 
cult. Hon.  Robert  Wicklifte,  the  president  of  the  new  board  of 
trustees  of  1818,  says  in  a  notice  in  Mles's  Register5  that  the  college  is 

1  Tliis  had  been  noised  abroad  somewhat  at  the  time  of  his  first  election,  on  Novem- 
ber 11,  1815,  and  was  probably  the  cause  of  that  action  being  rescinded  later,  when 
a  committee  was  appointed  to  inquire  into  his  character. 

3  The  language  of  the  charter  and  the  position  taken  by  previous  legislatures  cer- 
tainly gave  them  good  grounds  for  taking  this  position.  The  act  of  1783  had  merely 
declared  "that  the  said  trustees  shall  at  all  times  be  accountable  for  their  transac- 
tions touching  any  matter  or  anything  relating  to  said  seminary  in  such  manner  as 
the  legislature  shall  direct."  The  natural  inference  from  this  was  that  they  might 
be  removed  from  office  or  otherwise  punished  for  malfeasance,  but  not  that  their 
organization  could  be  altered  except  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  charter 
itself.  This  was  the  construction  put  upon  that  charter  by  the  acts  of  November  21, 
1795,  and  December  21,  1795,  which  did  not  reorganize  the  old  board,  but  merely 
suspended  them  from  office  in  the  one  case  and  in  the  other  made  them  accountable 
for  the  discharge  of  their  duties  to  the  district  court.  The  position  taken  by  the 
Presbyterians  was  at  least  as  tenable  as  the  opposite  one,  given  in  Peter's  Transyl- 
vania University,  pp.  22-24. 

3  Davidson's  Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky,  p.  315. 

4Niles's  Register,  vol.  23,  p.  387,  tells  us  tb ere  were  60  students  in  the  academical 
department  in  the  summer  of  1818. 

6  Vol.  15,  p.  132. 


58  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

to  give  an  education  u  as  good  as  is  given  in  other  colleges  in  the 
United  States."  There  had  been  altogether,  including  honorary 
degrees,  only  22  degrees  granted  during  this  period,  which  may  be 
called  a  period  of  substantial  though  gradual  growth  and  of  excellent 
preparation  for  future  work. 

PERIOD  FROM  1818  TO  1827. 

Dr.  Holley's1  administration,  extending  from  November,  1818,  to 
March,  1827,  is  by  far  the  most  brilliant  era  of  the  university's  history. 
The  new  president  aimed  to  make  of  Transylvania  a  genuine  univer- 
sity, complete  in  every  college  and  liberally  endowed.  He  was  in 
many  ways  admirably  fitted  for  the  undertaking.  Having  graduated 
at  Yale  in  the  class  of  1803,  when  about  22  years  of  age,  he  had,  after 
studying  law  for  a  while  in  New  York  and  then  abandoning  it  for  the 
ministry,  pursued  the  study  of  theology  under  Dr.  Dwight  in  New 
Haven,  where  he  had  become  a  Unitarian,  not  under  his  preceptor,  but 
from  his  personal  conviction.  Since  1809  he  had  been  the  pastor  of 
the  Hollis  Street  Unitarian  Church  of  Boston,  Mass.,  where  he  was 
greatly  beloved  and  admired.  He  was  a  man  of  engaging  manners 
and  of  great  personal  magnetism.  Besides,  his  learning  was  very 
wide  and  his  eloquence  so  stirring  as  to  cause  a  staid  New  England 
audience  to  burst  into  noisy  applause  on  the  occasion  of  his  delivering 
a  sermon  before  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Company  of 
Boston.  In  Lexington  he  entertained  freely  patrons  of  learning  and 
distinguished  strangers,  and  captivating,  as  he  did,  all  who  came  near 
him,  was  calculated  to  interest  them  in  the  welfare  of  the  university.. 
This  he  did  in  a  very  successful  way  in  the  case  of  the  State  legis- 
lature and  of  such  public- spirited  citizens  as  Col.  James  Morrison, 
Henry  Clay,  and  others. 

The  circumstances  were  also  favorable  for  a  new  era  of  progress,  as 
the  State  had  just  emerged,  with  great  credit  to  herself,  from  the  war 
of  1812,  which  effectually  did  away  with  all  Indian  hostilities  in  or 
near  it  in  the  future,  and  the  people  had  now  time  and  opportunity  to 
turn  their  attention  to  educational  matters,  hitherto  necessarily  much 
neglected.  The  State  was  also  now  disposed  to  renew  its  attention 
and  patronage  to  the  university  as  the  only  effective  center  of  higher 
education  in  its  midst,  the  academies  by  this  time  having  proven  recog- 
nized failures  in  many  cases.  This  help  was  greater  than  ever  before, 
and  was  now  especially  timely. 

Dr.  Holley  was  formally  inaugurated  on  December  19,  1818,  and  at 
once  set  to  work  to  build  up  the  institution,  and  proving,  in  many  ways, 
the  man  for  the  place,  the  university  entered  upon  a  career  of  almost 
marvelous  prosperity,  in  which  the  plans  of  Judge  Wallace  seemed 

1  For  more  extended  sketches  of  Dr.  Holley,  see  Collins's  History  of  Kentucky, 
Vol.  II,  pp.  217-218,  and  especially  Dr.  Charles  C  aid  well's  Discourse  on  the  Genius  and 
Character  of  Rev.  Horace  Holley. 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  59 

about  to  be  realized.  The  faculty  was  soon  reorganized  and  enlarged, 
and  men  of  reputation  called  to  the  various  chairs,  largely  through  the 
president's  personal  influence.  Its  personnel  in  October,  1821,  was  as 
follows:  Academical  department:  Rev.  Horace  Holley,  A.  M.,  LL.  D., 
president,  philology,  belles  lettres,  and  mental  philosophy  j  Rev.  E.  H. 
Bishop,  A.  M.,  natural  philosophy  and  history;  J.  F.  Jenkins,  A.  B., 
mathematics;  John Koche,  A.M., languages 5  Constantine S.Kafinesque, 
natural  history,  botany,  and  modern  languages 5  J.  W.  Tibbats  and 
B.  O.  Peers,  tutors.  Medical  college:  Charles  Caldwell,  M.  D.,  insti- 
tutes of  medicine  and  materia  medica;  B.  W.  Dudley,  M.  D.,  anatomy 
and  surgery;  Samuel  Brown,  M.  D.,  theory  and  practice  of  physic; 
W.  H.  Richardson,  M.  D.,  obstetrics  and  diseases  of  women  and  chil- 
dren; James  Blythe,  M.  D.,  D.  D.,  chemistry.  Law  school:  William 
T.  Barry,  professor. 

Dr.  Daniel  Drake  was  soon  added  to  the  medical  faculty  and  Judge 
Jesse  Bledsoe  to  the  law  faculty. 

Prof.  (J.  S.  Rafmesque,1  who  held  the  chair  of  natural  science  in  the 
academic  department  and  of  medical  botany  in  the  medical  department, 
was  connected  with  the  university  from  1819  to  1825,  and  was  probably, 
at  the  time,  the  most  eminent  scientist  in  America.  In  18_!4  lie  estab- 
lished, in  connection  with  the  university,  a  botanical  garden,  which, 
however,  was  not  a  financial  success,  and  was  not  long  kept  up.  He 
is  the  author  of  a  number  of  scientific  works,  and  although  somewhat 
visionary,  did  much  valuable  teaching. 

The  professional  departments  especially  were  developed  by  Dr. 
Holley,  and  the  medical  college,  which  had  been  again  suspended  in 
1818,  but  was  revived  in  1819,  soon  began  to  hold  a  prominent  rank  not 
only  in  the  West,  but  in  the  country  at  large.  Its  library,  secured  by 
a  special  visit  of  Dr.  Caldwell  to  the  continent  in  1820,  was  so  rare  and 
valuable,  many  of  the  books  being  those  of  eminent  French  physicians 
ruined  by  the  Revolution,  as  to  make  it  one  of  the  best  of  its  kind  in 
America.  The  number  of  students  in  this  department  grew  from  20 
students  and  1  graduate  in  1817-18  to  281  students  and  53  graduates 
in  1825-26,  there  being  93  students  in  1820-21,  138  in  1821-22,  170  in 
1822-23,  200  in  1823-24,  and  234  in  1824-25.2  Its  faculty  was  also  unex- 
celled in  the  country  for  their  talents  and  acquirements.  We  have 
already  noticed  Dr.  Brown's  celebrity  in  speaking  of  his  nominal  con- 
nection with  the  university  from  1799  to  1806. 

Dr.  Caldwell :i  had  been  formerly  a  member  of  the  faculty  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  very  noted  both  as  a  physician 

1  For  a  more  extended  sketch,  see  Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  II,  pp.  201- 
202;  also,  Life  and  Writings  of  Rafinesque,  by  R.  E.  Call,  M.  A.,  M.  So.,  M.  D., 
Louisville,  1895. 

2 There  were  241  students  in  1826-^7,  after  Dr.  Holley 's  first  resignation  had  been 
offered. 

3For  fuller  sketch,  see  Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  II,  p.  219;  Collius's 
Sketches  of  Kentucky,  pp.  558-559. 


60  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN    KENTUCKY. 

and  a  teacher.  He  was  connected  with,  the  Transylvania  medical 
faculty  from  1819  to  1837. 

Dr.  Drake,1  long  one  of  the  most  eminent  medical  professors  in  the 
West,  in  the  medical  colleges  of  Cincinnati  and  Louisville  as  well  as 
Lexington,  was  connected  with  the  Transylvania  University  faculty 
from  1823  to  182G,  as  well  as  in  1817-18. 

Dr.  B.  W.  Dudley,2  long  the  most  eminent  surgeon  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  if  not  in  the  whole  country,  famed  especially  for  his  operations 
in  lithotomy  and  upon  the  eye  and  cranium,  as  well  as  other  delicate 
treatments,  was  a  great  teacher  as  well.  An  alumnus  of  Transylvania 
University  and  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  medi- 
cine, he  had  later  pursued  the  study  of  his  chosen  profession  for  four 
years  in  London  and  Paris.  He  entered  the  Transylvania  medical 
faculty  regularly  in  1817  and  remained  in  it  for  forty  years,  contribut- 
ing in  no  small  measure  to  its  great  success  by  his  personal  efforts 
and  reputation. 

Drs.  Kichardson  and  Blythe  were  also  noted  as  successful  teachers 
in  their  respective  departments. 

Dr.  Drake  tells  us,  in  speaking  of  this  faculty  and  of  the  law  faculty 
at  this  time,  "that  they  were  men  of  brilliant  talents  and  wide  reputa- 
tion, and  collectively  constituted  a  greater  array  of  strength  and  bril- 
liancy than  was  scarcely  ever  collected  in  any  institution  at  one  time."3 
Much  valuable  research  and  investigation  was  carried  on  at  the  uni- 
versity at  this  time  by  its  medical  faculty,  the  results  of  which  were 
made  known  through  the  Transylvania  Medical  Journal,  which  they 
then  published.  This  faculty  was  further  strengthened,  either  during 
this  period  or  soon  after,  by  the  addition  of  such  eminent  professors  as 
Drs.  John  Esten  Oooke,  L.  P.  Yandell,  H.  H.  Eaton,  and  Charles  W. 
Short,  most  of  whom  remained  connected  with  it  for  many  years 
afterwards.  For  some  time  to  come,  with  its  distinguished  corps  of 
professors,  its  excellent  chemical  and  anatomical  apparatus,  and  its 
unsurpassed  library,  it  fairly  claimed  to  be  the  equal  of  any  medical 
school  in  the  country  in  equipment,  and  was  only  excelled  in  numbers 
by  the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

President  Holley  not  only  thus  enlarged  and  strengthened  the  profes- 
sional departments,  but,  as  a  means  toward  this  end  and  toward  the 
general  building  up  of  the  university,  was  able  to  induce  the  legis- 
lature and  Lexington  to  contribute4  to  the  wants  of  the  institution 

1  For  fuller  sketch,  see  Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  II,  p.  580 ;   also  memoirs 
of  Dr.  Drake,  by  Mansfield.     Collins  incorrectly  says  ho  remained  at  Transylvania 
the  second  time  until  1827. 

2  See  also  Collius's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  II,  p.  218.     Dr.  Dudley  remained 
connected  with  the  Transylvania  medical  faculty  until  1858.     He  died  in  Lexington, 
January  20,  1870,  aged  nearly  85  years. 

3Manstield's  Memoirs,  p.  128. 

4  For  these  various  appropriations,  see  Report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Public 
Instruction  of  Kentucky  for  1875-76,  pp.  15-10,  Appendix;  Autobiography  of  Dr. 
Charles  Caldwell,  p.  360;  also  Acts  of  1818-19,  pp.  692-693,  of  1819-20,  p  952,  and 
of  1822-23,  pp.  149-151  and  160-162. 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  61 

more  liberally  than  ever  before.  In  1819  the  legislature  granted  to 
the  university  the  bonus  of  the  Farmers  and  Mechanics'  Bank  for  two 
years,  amounting  to  $3,000;  in  1820,  $5,000  from  the  State  treasury 
to  buy  books  and  apparatus  for  the  medical  college;  in  1821,  one-half 
the  net  profits  of  the  Lexington  branch  of  the  Bank  of  the  Common- 
wealth for  two  years,  yielding  $20,000,  which  was,  however,  only 
equivalent  to  $10,000  in  specie;  in  1822,  a  lottery  privilege  of  $25,000 
for  a  new  medical  building,  and  also  2  per  cent  of  the  auction  sales  in 
Eayette  County  for  a  law  library;  in  1824,  $20,000  from  the  State 
treasury.  Lexington,  in  1820,  also  gave  $G,000  for  the  equipment  of 
the  medical  college,  and  in  1822  citizens  of  the  town  contributed  about 
$5,000 l  more.  These  would  be  considered  rather  small  donations  now- 
adays to  a  State  educational  enterprise,  but  were  quite  liberal  for  the 
time  and  circumstances.  They  were,  however,  always  given  against 
strong  opposition  in  the  legislature,  and  were  accompanied  by  other 
legislation  in  some  respects  adverse  to  the  university.2  We  shall  soon 
find  that  when  the  old  opposition  became  strengthened  by  popular 
dissatisfaction  in  regard  to  the  administration  of  the  university,  all 
State  appropriations  were  entirely  withdrawn. 

Unfortunately  all  the  early  donations,  instead  of  being  added  to  the 
endowment  of  the  institution,  had  to  be  used  to  pay  its  debts  and 
supply  it  with  books  and  apparatus.  The  result  was  that  in  1825  few 
colleges  in  the  country  had  better  libraries  and  internal  equipment 
generally  than  Transylvania  University,  but  there  were  little  means 
for  the  institution's  future  expansion.  The  attention  of  benevolently- 
minded  individuals  was,  however,  being  attracted  to  th.e  university  by 
its  work  under  Dr.  Holley,  as  is  shown  by  the  bequest  of  Col.  James 
Morrison,3  who  had  been  for  some  time  the  chairman  of  its  board  of 
trustees  and  who  died  on  April  23, 1823.  This  legacy  included  the  gift 
of  $20,000  to  endow  a  professorship,4  and  a  residuary  estate  of  about 
$50,000  to  be  used  to  erect  a  new  college  building,  which  was  to  bear 
the  name  of  the  donor. 

Circumstances,  as  we  have  seen,  were  favorable,  and  as  Dr.  Holley's 
objectionable  opinions  and  actions  were  not  generally  known  for  some 
time,  he  was  able  by  his  great  executive  ability  to  build  up  the  institu- 
tion very  rapidly  and  to  make  its  name  known  not  only  in  the  State, 
but  throughout  the  country  and  even  in  Europe.  The  governors  of 
the  State  soon  began  in  their  messages  to  speak  of  the  honor  and 

1  The  exact  amount  was  $4,832. 

2Caldwell  tells  us  (Autobiography,  p.  360)  that  the  failure  of  the  legislature  to 
renew  the  charter  of  the  Bank  of  Kentucky,  in  which  its  original  endowment  funds 
were  invested,  lost  the  university  about  $20,000. 

^Colonel  Morrison  was  a  Pennsylvauiau  who  had  come  to  Kentucky  in  1792,  whe.e 
he  had  acquired  large  wealth  for  the  time.  Tie  was  very  public  spirited  and  took 
an  interest  in  other  public  enterprises  besides  Transylvania  University.  For  a  more 
complete  sketch  of  his  life  see  Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  II,  p.  196,  and 
Davidson's  Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky,  p.  306  et  seq. 

4  Or  library  by  the  will,  but  the  trustees  chose  the  professorship. 


62  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

luster  it  reflected  upon  Kentucky,  and  its  graduates  soon  began  to  be 
important  factors  in  the  life  of  the  South  and  West,  from  which  sections 
most  of  them  came.  The  relative  importance  of  the  university  among 
American  colleges  during  the  early  part  of  this  period  may  be  shown 
somewhat  by  the  fact  that  in  March,  1821, ]  it  had  282  students,  while 
Yale  had  319,  Harvard  286,  Union  264,  Dartmouth  222,  and  Princeton 
150.  Of  the  Transylvania  students,  185  were  at  that  time  in  the 
academic  department.2 

But  Dr.  Holley's  religious  opinions,  supposed  by  many  to  verge  on  infi- 
delity, began  to  be  noised  abroad,  as  did  also  his  love  of  worldly  ainu>e- 
oient,  equally  objectionable  to  many,  and,  by  reason  of  the  prejudice 
and  sectarian  animosity  of  the  day,  it  soon  began  to  arouse  criticism 
and  opposition.  The  Presbyterians  had  early  become  alarmed,  and  soon 
after  his  election  had  again  determined  to  have  an  institution  undoubt- 
edly under  their  own  control,  a  movement  resulting  in  the  founding  of 
Centre  College  in  1819.  The  Catholics  founded  St.  Joseph's  in  the  same 
year  and  St.  Mary's  in  1821,  and  the  Methodists  Augusta  in  1822.  The 
same  denominational  idea  was  prominent  in  the  establishment  of  Cum- 
berland College  by  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians  in  1827,  and  later  of 
Georgetown  College  by  the  Baptists  in  1829  and  of  Bacon  College  by 
the  Christians  in  1836. 

Opposition  on  the  part  of  the  general  public,  through  the  press  and 
otherwise,  also  soon  began  to  manifest  itself,  and  as  early  as  1824  Pro- 
fessors Barry,  Bledsoe,  and  others,  connected  with  the  faculty  of  the 
university,  deemed  it  well  to  issue  a  pamphlet  defending  Dr.  Holley 
against  unjust  calumnies.  The  former  opposition  of  the  legislature 
also  increased  in  response  to  the  state  of  public  opinion,  as  was  perhaps 
first  shown  by  the  reorganization  of  the  board  of  trustees  in  1821,3 
when  four  new  members  were  added  to  its  number.  Committees  of 
investigation  into  the  condition  of  the  university,  which  was  accused 
of  extravagance,  began  to  be  frequently  appointed  soon  after  this,  and 

1  Statistics  from  Niles's  Register,  vol.  29,  p.  63.  Vol.  31,  p.  158,  of  this  work  gives  the 
total  number  of  graduates  of  other  colleges  for  the  year  1826  as  follows :  Harvard, 
53;  Yale,  100;  Princeton,  24;  Amherst,  32;  Dartmouth  37,  and  Union  71.  The  fol- 
lowing degrees  conferred  by  Transylvania  (taken  mainly  from  the  American  Journal 
of  Education  for  1826,  pp.  311-313)  will  serve  for  a  comparison  later  in  this  period; 
in  1823,  32  A.  B.'s  (B.  L.'s  and  M.  D.'s  not  given);  in  1824,  24  A.  B.'s,  16  B.  L.'s,  and 
47  M.  D.'s;  in  1825,  32  A.  B.'s,  16  B.  L.'s,  and  57  M.  D.'s. 

2The  number  of  students  in  this  department  of  the  university  for  other  years  of 
this  period,  as  obtained  from  catalogues  and  other  sources,  was  as  follows :  1821-22, 
200;  1822-23,  172;  1823-24,  159;  1825-26,  131;  1826-27,  96.  Of  these,  the  number  in 
the  preparatory  classes  in  each  year  respectively  were  62,  51,  27, 40,  and  39.  The  law 
students  for  the  period,  as  far  as  ascertained,  were  for  1820-21,  9;  for  1821-22,  49; 
for  1822-23,  44 ;  for  1823-24,  48.  The  medical  students  have  been  given  on  page  59. 
The  academic  students  for  1823-24  represented  fourteen  States  and  the  District  of 
Columbia. 

3In  the  act  of  December  18,  1821,  appropriating  the  profits  of  the  branch  Bank  of 
the  Commonwealth,  in  connection  with  which  it  was  declared  that  the  university 
was  not  to  depend  for  the  future  on  State  aid. 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  63 

hindrance  rather  than  help  was  to  be  expected  in  the  future  from  the 
State. 

Discouraged  and  irritated  by  the  state  of  public  opinion,  and  har- 
assed by  charges  which  he  felt  to  be  unmerited,  Dr.  Holley,  despair- 
ing, as  he  did,  of  the  further  enlargement  of  the  university,  especially 
through  State  aid,  felt  constrained  to  resign,  offering  his  resignation 
at  first  to  take  effect  in  January,  1820.  He  withdrew  this  resignation 
at  the  solicitation  of  friends,  but  on  January  18,  1827,  finally  resigned, 
to  take  effect  in  the  following  March,  greatly  to  the  regret  of  the  major- 
ity of  the  citizens  of  Lexington,  of  the  trustees,  and  of  the  students, 
a  number  of  the  latter  leaving  the  institution  upon  his  retirement.  He 
left  Lexington  on  March  27, 1827,  to  engage  in  other  educational  enter- 
prises in  Louisiana,  and  died  of  yellow  fever  on  July  31  following,  while 
on  his  way  by  sea  to  New  York. 

He  certainly  had  done  much  for  the  university,  as  shown  by  its 
remarkable  growth  during  his  administration.  He  is,  however,  not 
entitled  to  all  the  credit  for  the  most  brilliant  period  of  the  institution's 
history,  for,  as  we  have  seen,  he  was  greatly  aided  by  favorable  circum- 
stances, which,  under  any  fairly  good  management,  would  have  caused 
a  considerable  expansion  in  the  university's  sphere.  A  great  deal  of 
the  foundation  of  its  prosperity  had  been  laid  under  the  conservative 
but  careful  adminstration  of  Dr.  Blythe.  The  academic  department 
had  been  brought  up  to  the  proportions  of  a  college,  the  law  depart- 
ment inaugurated,  and  the  medical  department  fairly  started.  Much 
of  the  success  of  this  last  department  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  energy 
and  ability  of  Dr.  Dudley,  who  had  already  become  fully  identified 
with  the  department  in  1815,  and  was  a  member  of  its  first  regular 
faculty  in  1817.  Dr.  Drake  tells  us  that  the  prosperity  of  the  medi- 
cal school  was  mainly  due  "  to  the  public  spirit  and  exertions  of  Dr. 
Dudley."1  Before  the  advent  of  the  Holley  era  the  institution  had 
already  acquired  considerable  local  reputation,  and  was  beginning  to 
attract  the  favorable  attention  of  the  State  authorities,  how  much 
through  the  personal  influence  and  efforts  of  Dr.  Blythe  we  know 
not.  Governor  Slaughter,  in  his  message  of  December  2,  1817,  rec- 
ommended that  Transylvania  University,  which  he  says  u  will  soon 
hold  an  eminent  rank  among  the  institutions  of  learning  in  the 
United  States,"  be  extended  such  aid  as  will  place  it  "on  the  most 
respectable  footing." 

Dr.  Holley  is,  however,  entitled  to  much  praise  and  credit  for  the 
institution's  success  on  account  of  his  power  of  increasing  the  interest 
in  it  of  public  men  like  Henry  Clay  and  benevolently-minded  men  like 
Colonel  Morrison,  by  reason  of  his  influence  with  the  State  authorities, 
as  is  evidenced  by  the  favorable  tone  ot  the  governors'  messages  during 
the  greater  part  of  his  administration  and  the  legislative  appropriations 
secured  during  that  period,  and  also  for  his  energy  and  great  executive 


1  Mansfield's  Memoirs,  p.  128. 


64  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

ability,  as  well  as  his  advanced  ideas  on  education.  The  recommenda- 
tions contained  in  his  last  report  to  the  trustees  are  quite  modern  in 
tone,  and  are  in  some  respects  certaialy  quite  in  advance  of  the  ideas 
then  prevalent.  He  recommended1  the  creation  of  a  regular  professor- 
ship of  modern  languages,  the  increase  of  the  law  professorships  to 
four,  one  of  which  should  treat  exclusively  of  Roman  law;  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  gymnasium,  the  collection  of  a  cabinet  of  minerals,  the 
foundation  of  a  gallery  of  fine  arts,  and  a  regular  arrangement  for  the 
establishment  of  libraries  in  the  different  departments,  especially  that 
of  history  and  politics.  The  works  to  be  added  to  the  library  were  to 
be  largely  for  the  use  of  advanced  students  and  of  the  professors,  and 
special  attentini  was  to  be  given  in  the  course  to  economic  science. 

Some  idea  of  the  growth  of  the  university  during  this  period  may 
be  obtained  from  the  increase  in  size  of  its  general  library  and  the 
additions  to  its  roll  of  alumni.  The  former,  as  shown  by  Dr.  Holley's 
last  report,2  had  increased  from  about  1,300  volumes  to  about  6,500 
volumes,  and  the  number  of  degrees  conferred  was  now  GOG,  instead  of 
22,  as  previously.  Forty  of  these  were  honorary,  but  the  remainder  had 
been  obtained  by  completing  a  course  the  standard  of  which  had  been 
constantly  elevated.  There  had  been  up  to  this  time  327  graduates  in 
the  medical  department  and  4 1  in  the  law  department. 

Dr.  Holley  was  undoubtedly  much  esteemed  by  most  of  those  who 
came  in  the  closest  personal  contact  with  him.  With  all  the  admirable 
qualifications  for  the  position  he  filled,  which  we  have  seen  him  to  pos- 
sess, and  with  the  high  rank  and  recognition  he  had  been  able  to  secure 
for  the  university,  it  seems  a  great  pity  that  he  should  not  have  been 
able  to  so  conduct  himself,  and  that,  too,  honorably,  as  to  avoid  precipi- 
tating a  conflict  with  prejudices  and  animosities  which,  however  unrea- 
sonable they  may  have  appeared  to  him,  he  might  have  known  his 
opposing  could  not  change,  but  would  only  further  provoke.  He  was 
undoubtedly  much  misjudged  and  maligned;  but  it  is  also  true  that 
his  own  indiscreet  words  and  conduct  were  responsible  to  a  consid- 
erable extent  for  these  actions.  Although  his  motives  should  not  be 
questioned,  yet  hardly  so  much  can  be  said  for  his  judgment. 

PERIOD  FROM  1827  TO  1849. 

We  now  enter  the  third  period  of  the  university's  history,  which  will 
witness  the  adoption  by  the  trustees  of  a  new  plan  of  supporting  and 
building  up  the  institution.  Under  the  act  of  1818,  and  again  by  that  of 
1821,  which  in  effect  only  changed  their  number,  the  trustees  were  to 
be  appointed  by  the  legislature  every  two  years;  but  by  the  neglect  of 
this  provision  it  seems  that  they  had  been  allowed  to  become,  as  for- 
merly, practically  a  self-perpetuating  body,  who  were  free  to  manage  the 

well's  Memoirs,  p.  211. 
,  p.  193  et  seq. 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  65 

institution  according  to  their  own  ideas,  which  during  this  period  were 
not  materially,  at  least,  interfered  with  by  the  legislature.  As  we  have 
seen,  by  reason  of  the  adverse  condition  of  public  opinion,  the  univer- 
sity had  been  virtually  abandoned  by  the  State,  and  was  to  receive  no 
more  State  help  for  nearly  thirty  years.  Without  this  assistance,  upon 
which  it  had  so  long  depended,  as  its  own  resources  were  insufficient, 
it  would  naturally  have  had  to  struggle  on  in  rather  a  poor  way  in  the 
future.  The  trustees  therefore  sought  to  bring  to  it  the  needed  help 
through  partial  denominational  control,  or  at  least  the  use  of  denom- 
inational influence  and  patronage.  The  institution  was  placed  first 
under  Baptist,  then  Episcopal,  again  Presbyterian,  and  lastly  Methodist 
auspices,  prominent  ministers  of  these  denominations  being  successively 
called  to  its  presidency,  in  the  hope  that  thereby  the  support  of  their 
church  organization  might  be  secured  for  it. 

The  control  exercised  by  these  denominations  was  in  each  case 
only  partial,  and  their  patronage  in  itself  always  insufficient.  So,  in 
order  for  it  to  be  at  all  efficacious,  there  had  to  be  some  outside  assist- 
ance, and  as  the  State  would  not  furnish  this,  it  came  from  local  sources — 
from  the  friends  of  the  university  in  Lexington  and  from  the  town 
itself.  We  find  soon  after  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Holley  a  number  of 
its  local  friends  rallying  around  the  institution  and  subscribing  for  its 
maintenance  a  conditional  emergency  fund  of  $3,000  a  year,  for  four 
years,  of  which  amount  about  $11,000  seems  to  have  been  finally  paid 
in.  With  this  help  and  the  proceeds  of  the  lottery  of  1825,  and  per- 
haps something  from  an  earlier  one  of  1804,1  instituted  for  the  same 
purpose,  the  returns  from  both  of  which  are  quite  uncertain  in  amount, 
a  new  and  spacious  medical  hall  was  projected,  the  corner  stone  of 
which  was  laid  with  imposing  ceremonies  on  April  26,  1827.  This 
building,  which  was  handsome  and  well  equipped,  was  completed  soon 
afterwards.  It  was  located  where  the  present  city  library  of  Lexing- 
ton now  stands.  Prior  to  its  completion  the  medical  lectures  were 
doubtless  given  in  the  main  college  building. 

The  resignation  of  Dr.  Holley  was  of  course,  under  the  circumstances, 
a  considerable  shock  to  the  university.  There  was  an  immediate  loss 
of  a  number  of  students,  and  the  attendance  the  next  session  was 
naturally  considerably  decreased,  especially  in  the  academic  depart- 
ment. Even  in  the  medical  department,  which  was  now  quite  well 
established  and  less  directly  affected  by  the  change  of  administration, 
the  number  of  students  fell  off  from  241  to  190  the  next  year. 

The  academic  faculty,2  after  Dr.  Holley's  departure,  was  composed 


1  The  Kentucky  Gazette  for  July  10,  1804,  contains  an  advertisement  of  the  "  Lex- 
ington Medical  Lottery,"  projected  to  establish  a  medical  college  in  Transylvania 
University. 

2  John  Everett,  A.  B.,  the  brother  of  the  celebrated  Edward  Everett,  and  Mann 
Butler,  A.  M.,  the  historian  of  Kentucky,  were  professors,  respectively,  of  ancient 
languages  and  mathematics  in  the  university  for  a  part  of  Dr.  Holley's  adminis- 
tration. 

2127— No.  25 5 


66  HISTORY    OP    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

as  follows:  John  Koche,  professor  of  Greek  and  Latin;  Kev.  George 
T.  Chapman,  professor  of  history  and  antiquity;  Eev.  B.  O.  Peers, 
professor  of  moral  philosophy ;  and  Thomas  J.  Matthews,  professor  of 
mathematics.  No  new  president  was  at  once  elected,  but  it  was 
arranged  that  the  academic  department  should  be  managed  by  its 
faculty  and  that  Drs.  Caldwell,  Dudley,  and  Short,  of  the  medical 
faculty,  should  preside  in  succession  on  all  public  occasions. 

During  the  future  history  of  the  university  the  professional  depart- 
ments somewhat  overshadow  its  other  parts.  They  were  conducted  upon 
a  somewhat  independent  basis,  and  being  largely  self- supporting  by 
reason  of  their  reputation  and  their  celebrated  faculties,  especially  with 
the  aid  of  the  local  financial  help,  which  was  mainly  bestowed  upon 
them,  they  were  in  the  main  prosperous  and  were  not  greatly  affected 
by  the  ups  and  downs  of  the  literary  department.  After  Dr.  Ilolley 
had  left  they  maintained  themselves  fairly  well  for  the  immediate  future, 
and  there  was  no  reason  why  the  university  as  a  whole  should  not  have 
continued  to  succeed,  if  it  had  not  been  abandoned  by  the  State,  and 
indeed,  for  the  time,  to  a  considerable  extent,  by  every  one,  some  public- 
spirited  citizens  of  Lexington  excepted.  This  now  becomes  a  charac- 
teristic feature  of  its  history,  especially  of  its  academic  department. 
As  it  was  not  sufficiently  endowed  to  be  self-supporting,  outside  assist- 
ance or  strong  local  aid  was  imperative;  and  when,  for  any  reason, 
either  or  both  of  these  were  lacking,  it  lapsed  into  a  condition  of  inac- 
tivity or  torpor  until  it  was  in  some  way  temporarily  revived  by  a  new 
impetus.  This  applies  especially  to  the  whole  period  after  Dr.  Holley's 
resignation,  when  regular  legislative  patronage  was  withdrawn,  but 
the  decline  did  not  show  itself  for  some  time  after  that  event. 

The  first  denominational  experiment  of  this  period  was  inaugurated, 
in  June  1828,  by  the  election  of  Eev.  Alva  Woods,  D.  D.,  of  Ehode 
Island,  to  the  vacant  presidency  of  the  university.  The  reputation  of 
the  institution  was  still  considerable  in  the  East,  as  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  Dr.  Woods  resigned  the  presidency  of  Brown  University  to 
accept  its  presidential  chair.  He  was  a  Baptist  clergyman  of  some 
celebrity,  being  particularly  highly  respected  for  his  learning  and  the 
liberality  of  his  views.  He  seems  to  have  been  a  practical  inatter-of- 
fact  man,  who  made  very  good  use  of  the  facilities  he  had  at  his  com- 
mand and  managed  to  keep  the  university  in  a  fair  state  of  prosperity 
during  his  administration,  which  lasted  about  two  years. 

His  practical  energy  was  well  shown  in  connection  with  the  loss  of 
the  main  building  of  the  university  by  fire,  when  temporary  quarters 

1 A  catalogue  of  the  medical  department  of  the  University  for  1828  shows  that  there 
were,  that  year,  40  graduates  in  that  department  who  came  from  the  States  of  Ken- 
tucky, Mississippi,  Alabama,  Tennessee,  South  Carolina,  Virginia,  Louisiana,  Michi- 
gan, and  Ohio.  Niles  tells  us  (Register,  vol.  37,  p.  216)  that  near  the  opening  of  the 
session  of  1828-29  there  were  150  students  in  the  medical  department  and  130  in  the 
college  and  preparatory  classes.  A  catalogue  gives,  for  1829-30,  24  law  students,  141 
academic  students,  of  whom  49  were  in  the  preparatory  classes,  and  241  medical 
students  who  represented  13  States. 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  67 

were  at  once  secured,  and  not  a  single  day's  exercises  were  suspended 
nor  a  single  student  left  the  institution.  This  great  misfortune  hap- 
pened 011  the  night  of  May  9, 1829,  and  besides  the  excellent  university 
building  completed  in  1818,  destroyed  the  law  and  societies'  libraries 
and  most  of  the  philosophical  apparatus.  It  entailed  a  loss  of  about 
$30,000,  exclusive  of  the  insurance,  thus  practically  wiping  out  all  of 
the  original  endowment  coming  from  Transylvania  Seminary.  It  of 
course  greatly  crippled  the  university's  future  usefulness,  and  the 
discouragement  due  to  it  was  probably  the  cause  of  Dr.  Woods's  resig- 
nation, in  1830,  to  accept  the  presidency  of  the  rising  University  of 
Alabama,  where  he  considered  he  had  a  more  promising  field  of  labor. 

There  was  then  an  interregnum  in  the  presidency  for  about  three 
years,  during  which  two  events  of  some  importance  occurred.  Dr. 
Blythe,  so  long  connected  with  the  university  faculty,  resigned  his 
chair  of  chemistry  in  183 L  to  accept  the  presidency  of  Hanover  College, 
Indiana.1  His  successor  at  Transylvania  was  the  celebrated  Dr.  Kobert 
Peter,  so  intimately  associated  with  the  university's  later  history,  and 
subsequently  with  that  of  Kentucky  University  and  the  Agricultural 
and  Mechanical  College.  Professor  Peter  came  in  with  the  new  admin- 
istration in  March,  1833. 

The  other  event  referred  to  above  is  the  erection  of  the  college  build- 
ing provided  for  from  the  residuary  estate  of  Col.  James  Morrison.  It 
was  begun  during  this  interregnum  and  was  located  on  the  eastern 
part  of  the  Higgins  lot,  acquired  by  the  university  in  1816.  After- 
wards, in  1835,  the  place  of  Dr.  Blythe's  former  residence,  known  as 
the  Blythe  lot,  now  the  eastern  portion  of  the  Kentucky  University 
campus,  was  purchased  by  the  trustees,  from  funds  also  arising  from 
the  Morrison  bequest,  thus  completing  a  beautiful  campus,  near  the 
center  of  which  the  Morrison  College  building  was  located. 

The  Baptists  had  now  begun  to  transfer  their  patronage  to  their  own 
distinctive  institution,  founded  at  Georgetown  in  1829,  arid  so  another 
source  of  assistance  for  the  university  was  sought  after  by  its  trustees, 
and  Eev.  B.  O.  Peers,2  a  prominent  Episcopal  clergyman,  was  called  to 
its  presidency  in  1833.3  He  was  a  man  of  high  character  and  advanced 
views  and  was  one  of  the  many  alumni  of  Transylvania  University 
now  rapidly  coming  forward  into  public  prominence.  He  had  gradu- 
ated in  the  class  of  1821  and  was  then  a  tutor  in  his  alma  mater  for  a 
time.  He  later  studied  theology  at  Princeton  and  was  for  a  while 

1  He  continued  as  president  of  Hanover  until  1836,  when  he  resigned  on  account 
of  bad  health.  His  death  occurred  in  1842.  - 

2 For  other  facts  in  regard  to  Rev.  B.  O.  Peers'  life,  see  Collins's  History  of  Kentucky, 
Vol.  I,  pp.  442-443.  Mr.  Peers,  besides  "writing  numerous  articles  for  newspapers  and 
magazines,  is  the  author  of  a  small  work  entitled  "Christian  Education." 

3  Peter's  Transylvania  University,  pp.  160-161,  gives  the  dates  of  President  Peers' 
inauguration  and  resignation  as,  respectively,  1832  and  February  1,  1834,  but  the 
appended  sketch  of  Mr.  Peers  gives  these  dates  as  1833  and  1835,  which  are  given 
also  by  a  number  of  other  authorities  consulted  by  the  writer. 


68  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN    KENTUCKY. 

engaged  in  church  work  in  Alexandria,  Va.  From  conscientious  reflec- 
tions he  then  decided  to  enter  the  profession  of  teaching  and  became, 
in  1827,  professor  of  moral  philosophy  in  Transylvania. 

He  was  one  who  devoted  himself  with  great  enthusiasm  and  earnest- 
ness to  whatever  he  undertook,  and  having  thought  deeply  and  observed 
widely  upon  educational  problems,  was  soon  quite  in  advance  of  his 
State  and  even,  in  some  respects,  of  his  country  in  his  ideas  and 
theories.  We  shall  find  that  he  is  the  virtual  founder  of  the  public 
school  system  of  Kentucky,  at  least  in  being  the  first  one  who  most 
prominently  and  successfully  agitated  the  question  of  its  adoption. 

On  June  1, 1829, ]  he  founded  in  Lexington  a  Mechanics'  Institute  on 
the  model  of  that  introduced  into  Scotland  by  Dr.  John  Anderson 
some  thirty  years  before,  but  at  the  time  of  its  establishment  quite  a 
new  enterprise  for  this  country.  In  connection  with  this  institute  an 
Apprentices'  School  was  soon  opened,  in  which  systematic  courses  of 
public  lectures  were  delivered,  mainly  by  professors  of  Transylvania 
University.  We  have  in  these  lectures  what  appear  to  be  very  fair 
types  of  modern  university  extension  courses.  They  are  reported 
to  have  been  quite  a  success  for  a  time,  similar  ones  being,  through 
their  example,  instituted  at  Louisville  and  other  important  points  in 
the  State,  but  for  some  reason  are  soon  lost  sight  of. 

In  October,  1830, 2  after  severing  his  connection  with  the  university 
faculty,  he  had  established  in  Lexington  the  Eclectic  Institute,  in  which 
an  attempt  was  made  to  put  into  practical  operation,  as  in  the  Eensse- 
laer  Institute  at  Troy,  ^New  York,  the  principles  of  Pestalozzi  and 
Fellenberg.  This  school  was  quite  successful  for  a  time,  but  was  too 
advanced  for  its  surroundings  and  so  did  not  last  long.  Mr.  Peers  had 
associated  with  himself  in  its  faculty,  in  1832,  two  model  educators, 
Henry  A.  Griswold  and  Dr.  Kobert  Peter.  He  was  still  in  charge  of 
the  school  when  elected  to  the  presidency  of  Transylvania  University. 
As  noted  above,  Dr.  Peter  went  with  him  into  the  university  faculty. 

Another  of  President  Peers's  advanced  ideas,  quite  advanced  for  the 
time 3  and  quite  practical  if  public  opinion  had  been  prepared  for  it,  was 
to  convert  Transylvania  University  into  a  State  normal  school,  which 
should  have  its  revenues  supplemented  by  ample  State  appropriations, 
and  should  be  put  at  the  head  of  a  State  public-school  system.  This 
view  is  clearly  expressed  in  the  address  delivered  at  the  time  of  his 

1  This  date  is  variously  given  by  different  authorities,  but  the  one  accepted  here 
is  supported  in  quite  an  authentic  way  by  Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Educa- 
tion, vol.  16,  p.  353,  and  is  probably  correct. 

2 There  is  as  much  variation  in  regard  to  this  date  as  in  the  case  of  that  of  the 
establishment  of  the  Mechanics'  Institute,  but  this  seems  best  authenticated.  See 
Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education,  vol.  17,  p.  148. 

:3The  normal-school  idea  had  at  the  time  been  discussed  comparatively  little  even 
in  New  England,  and  the  first  regular  normal  school  was  not  opened  until  July, 
1839.  (See  Gordy's  Eise  and  Growth  of  the  Normal  School  Idea  in  the  United  States, 
especially  pp.  19  and  47.) 


TRANSYLVANIA   UNIVERSITY.  69 

inauguration  as  president  of  the  university.  Mr.  Peers's  ideas  seem  to 
have  been  too  advanced  for  his  time  and  perhaps  too  for  his  executive 
ability,  although  an  extraordinary  amount  of  the  latter  would  probably 
have  been  needed  to  pull  the  university  out  of  the  "  Slough  of  Despond" J 
into  which  she  had  then  fallen. 

The  denominational  feature  of  the  institution's  management  appeared 
more  distinctively  during  this  administration  in  the  establishment,  in 
connection  with  its  other  departments,  of  a  theological  seminary,  under 
the  control  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  The  new  department  was  con- 
ducted for  a  comparatively  short  while  after  its  establishment  in  1834, 
and  never  had  any  really  organic  connection  with  the  university,  being 
really  an  independent  institution 2  temporarily  associated  with  it. 

It  was  during  President  Peers's  term  of  office  that  the  building  erected 
from  the  residuary  estate  of  Colonel  Morrison,  and  named  in  his  honor 
Morrison  College,  was  completed.  It  was  quite  a  commodious  and 
imposing  structure,  costing  about  $40,000,  and  is  still  in  use,  compara- 
tively unaltered,  as  one  of  the  principal  buildings  of  Kentucky  Uni- 
versity. It  was  dedicated  with  elaborate  ceremonies  on  November  14, 
1833,  and  at  the  same  time  President  Peers  was  formally  inaugurated, 
and,  after  having  taken  the  oath  of  office  prescribed  for  all  Transyl- 
vania officers  by  the  original  charter, '  delivered  an  impressive  address 
on  the  prospects  of  the  university  and  the  proper  aims  of  such  an 
institution. 

Iii  the  early  part  of  1835,  when  he  had  begun  to  see  the  futility  of  at 
least  most  of  his  cherished  plans  in  regard  to  the  institution,  he  resigned 
its  presidency  and  entered,  in  the  work  of  his  church  at  Louisville, 
what  he  considered  wider  fields  of  usefulness.  In  1838  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  other  church  work  in  New  York  City,  where  he  died,  in  1842, 
in  the  inidst  of  a  career  promising  much  for  the  future.  He  was  noted 
for  his  ardent  piety,  sound  learning,  and  zealous  devotion  to  the  cause 
of  general  education. 

His  associates  in  the  academic  faculty  of  Transylvania  University  at 
the  opening  of  his  administation  in  1833,4  in  addition  to  Dr.  Peter,  who 
has  been  already  mentioned,  were  John  Lutz,5  D.  P.,  professor  of  inathe- 

1  A  catalogue  shows  us  that,  in  January,  1834,  there  were  only  63  students  in  the 
academic  department,  of  whom  31  were  in  the  preparatory  classes;  at  this  time,  how- 
ever, the  law  department  had  52  students  and  the  medical  department  260,  the  latter 
from  15  different  States. 

2  This  seminary  was  incorporated  by  an  act  of  the  State  legislature  approved  on 
February  24,  1834,  which  stipulates  that  it  is  to  be  conducted  entirely  without  State 
aid.     The  American  Almanac  for  1834  shows  that  the  seminary  in  that  year  had  three 
professors  and  eight  students,  and  that  its  library  then  contained  2,000  volumes. 

3  By  section  4  of  the  act  of  May  5, 1783. 

4  Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education,  vol.  27,  p.  335. 

5  Prof.  Lutz  was  acting  president  of  the  university  for  a  short  time  during  inter- 
regnums, both  before  and  after  President  Peers's  administration.     He  held  the  Mor- 
rison professorship,  which  carried  with  it  the  acting  presidency  under  such  circum- 
stances. 


70  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

matics,  E.  Eosel,  professor  of  languages,  and  Charles  E.  Bains,  princi- 
pal of  the  preparatory  department.  In  1835  Prof.  S.  Hebard  had 
taken  Professor  Lutz's  place  in  the  faculty.  The  medical  faculty  in 
1833  included  Doctors  Dudley,  Caldwell,  Cooke,  Richardson,  Short,  and 
Yandell,  and  the  260  medical  students  of  that  year  were  from  15  differ- 
ent States,  mainly  in  the  Southwest. 

A  few  months l  after  Mr.  Peers's  resignation  as  president  of  the  uni- 
versity, he  was  succeeded,  in  that  position,  by  Eev.  Thomas  W.  Coit, 
D.  D.,  who  had  been  a  member  of  the  theological  faculty  then  asso- 
ciated with  tho  institution  and  was  a  high  churchman  of  some  celebrity. 
President  Goit  retained  his  office  about  three  years,  which  was  some- 
what longer  than  the  usual  presidential  term  during  this  period  of  the 
university's  history. 

In  January,  1836,  an  attempt  was  made  to  carry  out  President 
Peers's  idea  and  convert,  by  the  aid  of  legislative  action,  the  univer- 
sity into  a  State  normal  school,  the  State  contributing  $5,000  a  year 
to  its  support  and  receiving  in  return  free  tuition  for  100  State 
students;  but  the  plan  was  too  advanced  for  the  legislature  to  then 
adopt,  and  we  shall  see,  when  about  twenty  years  later  another  legis- 
lature did  establish  such  a  school,  the  idea  was  still  ahead  of  public 
opinion  and  the  experiment  was  destined  to  be  a  failure. 

President  Coit  seems  to  have  been  an  excellent  man,  but  perhaps 
less  energetic  than  President  Peers,  and  so  less  able  to  stem  the  tide 
of  general  decline  in  the  fortunes  of  the  university,  which  had  set  in 
stronger  than  ever,  and  which  even  affected  the  professional  depart- 
ments, hitherto  comparatively  vigorous.  This  depression  resulted  in 
1837  in  an  attempt,  participated  in  by  Drs.  Caldwell,  Cook,  Yaudell, 
and  Short,  the  majority  of  the  medical  faculty,  and  perhaps  others, 
which  seems,  for  a  time  at  least,  to  have  been  conducted  secretly,  to 
move  the  medical  department  bodily  to  Louisville,  which  had  devel- 
oped into  the  largest  and  most  important  business  center  in  the  State 
and  was  considered  by  them  in  many  ways  a  more  eligible  location 
than  Lexington  for  the  school.  When  this  plan  became  generally 
known,  a  storm  of  local  indignation  was  aroused  and  the  professors 
who  favored  the  change  resigned  their  chairs,  as  they  may  perhaps 
have  done  in  any  event  if  their  views  had  not  been  carried  out.  They 
were  mainly  instrumental  soon  after  in  establishing  at  Louisville,  on 
an  independent  basis,  a  rival  school  called  the  Louisville  Medical 
Institute,  which  subsequently  developed  into  the  medical  department 
of  the  University  of  Louisville,  but  which  does  not  seem,  for  a  time  at 
least,  if  at  all,  to  have  materially  injured  the  medical  department  of 
Transylvania  University. 

1  The  dates  given  here  for  the  administration  of  President  Coit,  1835  and  1838,  are 
those  given  by  most  authorities;  Peter's  Transylvania  University,  pp.  161-162,  gives 
them  as  October,  1834  (inaugurated  July,  1835),  and  September,  1837. 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  71 

Indeed,  the  movement  was  upon  the  whole  really  beneficial  to  Tran- 
sylvania, as  local  public  opinion  was  awakened  to  her  condition  and 
needs,  and  help  was  brought  to  her  in  1838-39  from  the  same  source 
and  partly  in  the  same  manner  that  it  had  come  several  times  before. 
The  city  of  Lexington  granted  $70,000  to  the  funds  of  the  institution, 
while  a  company  of  70  of  her  citizens,  organized  in  a  corporate  capacity 
under  the  name  of  the  Transylvania  Institute,  on  February  20,  1839, 
subscribed  $35,000  for  the  same  purpose,  transferable  scholarships 
carrying  with  them  free  tuition  being  issued  to  the  city  and  to  the  sub- 
scribers for  each  $500  contributed.  Of  the  money  given  by  the  city, 
$40,000  was  to  go  to  the  construction  of  a  new  medical  college  building 
and  $5,000  to  equip  that  with  library  and  apparatus;  another  $5,000 
was  for  the  library  of  the  law  department,  and  the  remainder  for  the 
endowment  of  Morrison  College.  The  money  raised  by  the  Transylvania 
Institute  also  went  to  Morrison  College,  part  of  it  being  used  to  erect 
a  new  dormitory.  After  these  additions  the  property  of  the  college 
was  estimated  to  be  worth  about  $100,000,  and  its  endowment,  includ- 
ing the  Morrison  fund,  about  $75,000.J  The  medical  faculty,  which  was 
reorganized  on  April  29,  1837,2  also  came  to  the  rescue  by  subscribing 
$3,000  to  purchase  a  lot  for  the  new  medical  building  and  afterwards 
paying  off  a  debt  of  about  $15,000  remaining  on  that  structure  after  its 
completion.  The  corner  stone  of  this  building3  was  laid  July  4,  1839, 
and  it  was  dedicated  on  November  1,  1840. 

The  reorganized  medical  faculty  was  constituted  as  follows :  B.  W. 
Dudley,  M.  D.,  anatomy  and  surgery;  James  C.  Cross,  M.  D.,  institutes 
of  medicine  and  medical  jurisprudence;  John  Eberle,  M.  D.,  theory  and 
practice  of  medicine;  W.  H.  Richardson,  M.  D.,  obstetrics  and  diseases 
of  women  and  children;  Thomas  D.  Mitchell,  M.  D.,  materia  medica  and 
therapeutics;  Robert  Peter,  M.  D.,  chemistry  and  pharmacy.  James  M. 
Bush,  M.  D.,  was  adjunct  professor  of  anatomy  and  surgery.  He  sub- 
sequently became  Dr.  Dudley's  successor  in  that  chair,  and  is  hardly 
less  celebrated  than  his  predecessor  as  a  surgeon.  Dr.  Peter  at  this 
time  became  first  connected  with  the  medical  department  of  the  uni- 
versity. He  was  a  member  of  its  faculty  throughout  the  remainder  of 
its  history,  and  was  for  many  years  its  dean  or  chief  executive  officer. 

This  department  maintained  its  former  relative  standing  compara- 
tively well  throughout  this  period.  In  1834-35  it  had  255  students, 
while  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  had  392,  and  Jefferson  Medical 
College  233.  Yale  at  that  time  had  C4  medical  students,  and  Harvard  82. 
In  1839  there  were  240  students  in  the  medical  department  of  Transyl- 


1  See  North  American  Review,  vol.  49,  pp.  262-263,  which  gives  the  endowment  and 
property  a,t  this  time  and  also  the  use  made  of  the  funds  of  1838-39. 

2Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  41. 

3  This,  the  second  medical  building  of  the  university,  was  located  on  North  Broad- 
way street,  opposite  the  southwest  corner  of  the  university  campus,  where  the  resi- 
dence of  Dr.  J.  M.  Bush  subsequently  stood. 


72  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

vania,  which  up  to  November,  1838,  had  had  altogether  3,820  students 
and  1,058  graduates.1 

The  law  department  of  the  university  was  also  enlarged  in  its  scope 
about  the  time  of  the  reorganization  of  its  medical  faculty,  and  hence- 
forth had  three  regular  professors,  while  its  library,  increased  by  the 
donation  of  Lexington,  Peter2  tells  us,  was  the  finest  of  its  kind  in 
the  West.  He  also  says  that  it  was  not  surpassed  in  the  country  in  the 
ability  of  its  professors  and  the  number  of  its  regular  students. 

This  department  had  had  as  a  rule  only  one  regular  professor  since 
the  close  of  Dr.  Holley's  administration,  but  the  professors  of  the  school 
at  different  times  had  been  such  men  as  John  Boyle,  Charles  Hum- 
phreys, and  Daniel  Mayes,  while  its  attendance  had  ranked  well  with 
that  of  similar  schools  throughout  the  country.  In  1834  Transyl- 
vania had  1  professor  and  36  students  in  its  law  department,  while 
Harvard  had  2  professors  and  32  students ;  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia, 1  professor  and  33  students ;  Yale,  2  professors  and  43  students. 
In  1839,  after  its  reorganization,  Transylvania's  law  school  had  71  stu- 
dents, while  Harvard  had  120,  Yale  45,  and  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia 72. 

The  reorganized  Transylvania  law  faculty3  was  composed  of  George 
Eobertson,  Aaron  K.  Woolley,  and  Thomas  A.  Marshall,  men  rarely,  if 
ever,  excelled  in  their  ability  as  jurists  or  as  teachers.  They  remained 
in  charge  of  the  department  throughout  the  remainder  of  this  period, 
and  under  them  its  attendance  and  reputation  were  considerably 
increased. 

About  the  close  of  President  Ooit's  administration  another  change  in 
the  plan  of  managing  the  university  was  made  which  marks  more 
emphatically  than  ever  the  withdrawal  of  the  State  from  any  attempt 
al  active  participation  in  its  management.  By  an  act  approved  Feb- 
ruary 16, 1838,  the  old  trustee  system  was  abolished  and  the  institution 
was  put  under  the  temporary  management  of  five  trustees  appointed 
by  the  governor  of  the  State.  On  February  20,  1839,  the  governing 
power  of  the  university  was  vested  in  a  board  of  eight  trustees,  two  of 
whom  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  Transylvania  Institute,  three  by  the 
city  of  Lexington,  and  three  by  the  State  legislature — a  system  of  con- 
trol which  was  in  the  main  to  be  retained  throughout  the  remaining 

1  Peter's  Thoughts  on  Medical  Education  in  America,  p.  12. 

2  History  of  Fayette  County,  p.  285. 

3  Their  chairs,  in  the  order  their  names  are  mentioned,  were  respectively  constitu- 
tional law,  equity,  and  law  of  comity ;  elementary  principles  of  common  law  ;  national 
and  commercial  law  and  law  of  i>leading,  evidence,  and  contract. 

Of  this  faculty  Hon.  George  Robertson,  LL.D.,  was  on  the  supreme  bench  of  Ken- 
tucky for  about  sixteen  years,  during  about  fifteen  of  which  he  was  chief  j  ustice.  He 
taught  in  Transylvania  for  more  than  twenty  years.  Hon.  Thomas  A.  Marshall,  LL.D., 
was  also  a  member  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  State  for  over  nine  years,  for  over  six 
of  which  he  was  chief  justice.  He  taught  in  Transylvania  for  about  fourteen  years 
subsequent  to  1836.  Hon.  A.  K.  Woolley  was  for  a  time  a  circuit  judge  and  taught  in 
the  university  a  number  of  years  prior  to  1849. 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  73 

history  of  the  institution,  and  which  gave  to  its  trustees,  now  largely 
local,  power  to  manage  it  themselves  or  to  transfer  its  management  to 
other  parties,  as  we  shall  soon  see  them  doing. 

The  other  members  of  the  academic  faculty  at  the  time  of  Presi- 
dent Coit's  resignation  were  as  follows :  Rev.  Louis  Marshall,  D.  D., 
professor  of  ancient  languages;  Rev.  Robert  Davidson,  D.  D.,  profes- 
sor of  mental  and  moral  philosophy;  Arthur  J.  Dumont,  professor  of 
mathematics;  Robert  Peter,  M.  D.,  professor  of  natural  history  and 
experimental  philosophy;  and  Rev.  Charles  Crow,  principal  of  the  pre- 
paratory department.  Dr.  Marshall 1  became  the  acting  president  of 
the  university  and  remained  so  until  the  beginning  of  the  next  regular 
administration. 

The  trustees  now  appear  to  have  endeavored  to  recall  to  the  aid  of 
the  institution  an  old  denominational  influence.  They  attempted  to 
conciliate  the  Presbyterians,  then  earnestly  striving  to  make  the  equip- 
ment and  endowment  of  Centre  College  superior  to  that  of  Transyl- 
vania, by  tendering  the  presidency  of  the  university,  Davidson  tells  us, 
successively  to  Dr.  J.  C.  Young,  the  efficient  president  of  Centre,  and 
then  to  Drs.  L.  W.  Green  and  R.  J.  Breckinridge,  other  ministers  of 
high  standing  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  These  all  declined,  and  the 
position  was  then  offered  to  Rev.  Robert  Davidson,  D.  D.,2  also  a  promi- 
nent Presbyterian  clergyman.  Dr.  Davidson,  who  accepted  the  presi- 
dency, was  a  man  of  considerable  reputation,  and  had  already  for  some 
time  occupied  a  chair  in  the  university  faculty.  He  was  inaugurated 
as  president  in  November,  1840,  probably  at  the  same  time  that  the 
large  and  fine  new  medical  building  was  dedicated. 

The  attempt  to  bring  back  Presbyterian  support  was,  however,  in 
the  main,  ineffectual,  as  Centre,  the  distinctively  Presbyterian  college, 
had  by  this  time  become  too  firmly  established  in  the  affections  of  the 
denomination  for  the  effort  to  be  of  much  avail.  Dr.  Davidson  early 
recognized  this,  and,  as  he  himself  tells  us,  despairing  of  being  able 
to  stern  the  tide  of  general  depression  now  setting  in  again,  and  hin- 
dered in  his  work  by  numerous  and  vexatious  embarrassments,  resolved 
to  resign,  which  he  did  in  March,  1842. 

His  resignation  may  have  been  hastened  by  the  consummation  of 
negotiations,  begun  perhaps  before  his  election,  but  not  leading  to  any 
definite  result  until  after  he  resigned.  As  early  as  1840  the  trustees, 
whether  on  their  own  initiative  or  not  does  not  appear,  had  made  over- 
tures to  the  general  conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
the  United  States  looking  toward  the  control  of  the  university  by  that 
body,  which,  under  the  circumstances,  they  probably  considered  capa- 
ble of  bringing  stronger  denominational  support  to  the  institution  than 

1  Dr.  Marshall  afterwards,  in  1855,  became  the  president  of  Washington  College, 
now  Washington  and  Lee  University,  Virginia. 

2  Dr.  Davidson  is  the  author  of  the  important  work,  The  History  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Chnrch  in  Kentucky,  a  work  quoted  a  number  of  times  in  this  monograph, 
especially  in  this  chapter. 


74  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN    KENTUCKY. 

even  the  Presbyterians.  At  the  meeting  of  this  conference,  held  in 
^Baltimore  in  May,  1840,  the  matter  was  taken  np  and  seven  commis- 
sioners l  were  appointed  from  the  church  at  large  and  the  Kentucky 
conference  to  consider  it  and  to  carry  out  the  transfer  if  it  was  deemed 
desirable. 

The  directing  spirit  in  this  movement  was  Rev.  H.  B.  Bascom, 
D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  a  leading  minister  of  his  denomination,  and  afterwards, 
when  the  division  of  the  church  occurred,  a  bishop  of  its  Southern 
branch.  Dr.  Bascom  had  been,  since  1832,2  a  prominent  professor  in 
Augusta  College,  an  institution  long  considered  the  adopted  college  of 
Kentucky  Methodism,  under  whose  auspices  it  had  been  mainly  founded, 
but  he  seems  to  have  been  conscientious  in  thinking  that  that  institu- 
tion was  no  longer  available  for  the  highest  and  best  educational  pur- 
poses of  his  denomination,  and  therefore  devoted  himself  with  his 
accustomed  energy,  which  was  very  great,  to  securing  the  control  of 
Transylvania  University  for  his  church.  He  experienced  considerable 
opposition  from  the  friends  of  Augusta,  whose  funds  he  vainly  tried  to 
secure  for  the  new  enterprise;  but,  after  considerable  negotiation,  was 
able  to  effect  the  desired  arrangement.  Either  because  he  feared  an 
appeal  to  the  legislature  on  account  of  the  opposition  of  Augusta,  or 
because  he  did  not  believe  such  action  necessary,  no  legislative  sanc- 
tion was  obtained  for  the  transfer,  which  was  made  by  the  trustees  on 
September  21, 1841. 

The  professional  departments  still  remained  on  their  former  basis, 
the  new  arrangement  applying  only  to  Morrison  College,  or  the  aca- 
demic department,  the  direct  management  of  which  was  to  be  vested 
in  a  board  of  nine  curators,  to  be  appointed  by  the  general  conference. 
The  curators  were  to  have  control  of  the  department  in  all  important 
respects,  such  as  the  nomination  of  its  faculty,  the  prescription  of  its 
course  of  study,  and  its  internal  police  and  regulation.  The  church 
was  to  be  given  an  additional  representation  of  three  members  on  the 
board  of  trustees,  which  body  reserved  to  itself  only  a  kind  of 
residuary  control  over  the  action  of  the  curators.  Kentucky  confer- 
ence was  to  be  interested  in  the  institution  through  a  visiting  commit- 
tee of  three  members  to  be  appointed  annually  by  that  body. 

The  transfer  was  not  regularly  ratified  by  the  general  conference 
until  its  meeting  in  1842,  but  shortly  before  that  event,  in  the  spring  of 
that  year,  Dr.  Bascom  became,  by  the  appointment  of  the  conference 
commissioners,  the  acting  president  of  the  university,  and  at  once,  with 


1  For  the  names  of  these  commissioners  see  Alexander's  Earliest  Western  Schools 
of  Methodism,  p.  372. 

2This  date  is  given  by  most  authorities  as  1831,  but  appears  as  in  the  text  in 
Henkle's  Life  of  Bascom,  p.  230,  which  should,  all  things  considered,  be  the  most 
authentic.  It  is  given  also  in  Sprague's  Annals,  Vol.  VII,  p.  536.  Henkle's  life  of 
Dr.  Bascom  is  most  complete.  Comprehensive  sketches  of  his  life  are  also  to  be 
found  in  Sprague's  Annals,  Vol.  VII,  pp.  535-536,  Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol. 
I,  pp.  453-455,  and  Smith's  History  of  Kentucky,  p.  556. 


TRANSYLVANIA   UNIVERSITY.  75 

characteristic  vigor,  devoted  himself  to  building  up  the  institution. 
He  associated  with  himself  an  able  faculty,  whose  personnel,  in  1843, 
not  long  after  the  beginning  of  his  administration,  was  as  follows: 
Eev.  H.  B.  Bascom,  D.  D.,  president  and  professor  of  mental  and  moral 
philosophy;  Eev.  E.  T.  P.  Allen,  A.  M.,  professor  of  mathematics, 
natural  philosophy,  and  civil  engineering;  Rev.  B.  H.  McOown,  A.  M., 
professor  of  ancient  languages  and  literature;  Eev.  W.  H.  Anderson, 
A.  M.,  professor  of  the  English  language  and  literature;  Eev.  J.  L. 
Kemp,  A.  M.,  adjunct  professor  of  mathematics;  Eev.  Thos.  H.  Lynch, 
A.  M.,  adjunct  professor  of  languages;  Eev.  Wright  Merrick,  principal 
junior  section  preparatory  department. 

Of  this  faculty  Professor  McCown  had,  like  Dr.  Bascom,  been  long  a 
prominent  professor  at  Augusta,  and  was  especially  celebrated  as  a 
teacher.  The  faculties  of  the  professional  departments  of  the  university 
were  at  this  time  the  same  as  those  under  the  reorganization  of  1837, 
except  that  Drs.  Lothan  G.  Watson  and  Leonidas  M.  Lawson  had  taken 
the  place  of  Drs.  Eberle  and  Cross  in  the  medical  department. 

The  new  president  set  to  work  with  energy,  and  was  for  a  time 
eminently  successful  in  increasing  the  patronage  of  the  university,  the 
number  of  students  in  its  academic  department,  says  Henkle,1  rising 
from  20  or  30  at  his  accession  to  281  the  second  year  and  290  the  third 
year  of  his  administration.  The  professional  departments  were  also 
well  attended.2  In  1844  Dr.  Bascom  became  the  regular  president,  by 
the  appointment  of  the  curators,  who  had  then  been  selected  for  the 
institution  by  the  general  conference  of  his  church.  Under  his  able 
management  it  seemed  that  Transylvania  would  soon  equal  if  not  excel, 
in  numbers  at  least,  her  palmiest  days.  The  partial  endowment  of  the 
chair  of  English  had  been  accomplished  by  1843.  Further  endowments 
were  proposed  and  other  ambitious  and  excellent  plans,  besides  pro- 
curing new  students,  were  entertained.  Disunion  in  the  church,  how- 
ever, soon  set  in  and  was  a  great  hindrance  to  the  enterprise. 

After  the  division  of  1844-45  had  taken  place  the  control  of  the 
university  passed,  in  May,  1846,  into  the  hands  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  South.  Dr.  Bascom  was  again  elected  president,  and  in 
order  to  secure  popularity  for  the  institution  had  men  from  all  the 
different  parts  of  the  church  elected  to  its  various  chairs,  but,  on 
account  of  the  irritation  and  the  divided  responsibility  still  remaining 
in  thedenomination,  especially  in  Kentucky,  neither  the  church  nor  the 
South  generally  increased  their  support,  either  in  students  or  funds. 
So  Dr.  Bascom,  discouraged  by  the  situation  and  despairing  of  the 

1  Life  of  Bascom,  p.  278. 

*  Catalogues  for  the  years  1842-1843,  1843-1844,  1846-1847,  and  1847-1848,  which 
have  been  examined,  show  that  the  average  annual  matriculation  in  the  academic 
department  for  these  years  was  240,  of  whom  something  over  half  were  in  the  pre- 
paratory classes.  The  average  annual  attendance  in  the  medical  department  for 
these  years  was  215,  and  in  tho  law  department,  65.  In  1843  13  A.  B.'s,  30  B.  L/s, 
and  59  M.  D.'s  were  conferred. 


76  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

further  enlargement  of  the  institution,  resigned  in  1849,  and  soon  after 
steps  were  taken  by  his  church  to  abandon  the  enterprise  as  a  denomi- 
national one. 

Some  idea  of  the  standing  of  Transylvania  University  in  comparison 
with  other  institutions  in  the  country  may  be  obtained  from  the  follow- 
ing statistics  of  the  scholastic  year  1842-43:  In  that  year  Harvard  had 
30  instructors  and  245  academic  students,  while  Yale  had  30  instructors 
and  410  academic  students.  Transylvania  had  17  instructors  and  281 
students.  A  considerable  portion  of  the  latter  were,  however,  doing 
^preparatory  work.  In  the  same  year  Transylvania  had  75  law  stu- 
dents, while  Harvard,  the  only  school  that  exceeded  it,  had  115.  The 
total  number  of  volumes  in  the  libraries  of  Harvard  and  Yale  in  this 
year  were,  respectively,  53,000  and  32,200,  while  there  were  12,242 
volumes  in  the  library  of  the  academic  department  of  Transylvania. 
Collins  tells  us,  in  his  Sketches,1  that  Transylvania  in  1847  had  libraries 
numbering  45,000  volumes,  besides  which  it  had  a  fine  medical  museum 
and  an  extensive  assortment  of  chemical  and  philosophical  apparatus. 
Its  medical  school  up  to  January  of  that  year,  he  tells  us,  had  had  more 
than  1,500  graduates.  Published  statements2  of  the  yearly  expenses 
of  attendance  at  Transylvania  at  this  period  show  them  to  have  been 
little  less  than  those  of  the  Eastern  colleges  5  in  fact,  something  more 
than  those  of  Yale. 

PERIOD  FROM  1849  TO  1865. 

In  1850  the  general  conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
South  turned  over  the  management  of  the  university  to  its  two  con- 
ferences in  Kentucky,  Kentucky  and  Louisville  conferences,  and  they, 
not  deeming  its  possession  of  advantage  to  themselves,  turned  it  over 
to  the  trustees,  so  that  the  institution  fell  back  to  the  plan  of  control 
established  for  it  in  1839. 

Once  more  practically  abandoned  by  everyone  and  left  to  its  own 
slender  resources,  another  season  of  decline  set  in  in  its  history, 
although  its  collegiate  department  seems  for  the  next  few  years  to  have 
performed  a  considerable  amount  of  useful  service  under  the  direction 
of  Prof.  J.  B.  Dodd,  the  mathematician,  as  acting  president,  and  the 
professional  department  continued  to  have  considerable  vitality  up  to 
the  time  of  the  civil  war. 

In  1850  the  plan  of  the  medical  department  was  changed  in  such  a 
way  as  to  have  its  sessions  held  in  the  spring,  instead  of  the  fall  and 
winter,  as  before,  and  its  faculty  took  the  principal  part  in  establishing, 
to  act  in  conjunction  with  it,  the  Kentucky  School  of  Medicine,  in 
Louisville.  This  arrangement,  however,  after  having  been  tried  for 

1  Sketches  of  Kentucky,  p.  266. 

2 In  American  Almanac  and  Repository  of  Useful  Knowledge  for  1843.  Tuition  at 
Transylvania  was  $40,  while  the  total  college  charges  were  $52,  and  board,  fuel, 
etc.,  are  estimated  at  $125  (board,  $100).  The  same  figures  for  Yale  are  $33,  $54,  and 
$110  (board,  $70).  The  charges  for  fuel,  etc.,  are  not  given  at  Harvard,  but  tuition 
is  $75;  total  college  charges,  $93,  and  board  is  estimated  at  from  $70  to  $90  per  year. 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  77 

four1  sessions,  does  not  seein  to  have  been  a  success,  and  so,  in  1851, 
the  Transylvania  school  was  changed  back  to  a  winter  session,  although 
an  extra  spring  session  was  for  a  time  retained.  The  Kentucky  School 
of  Medicine  was  subsequently  continued,  in  other  hands,  as  another 
rival  institution. 

In  185G  the  university  underwent  its  last  reorganization  as  a  separate 
institution.  We  have  a  return  once  more  to  more  direct  State  control 
and  the  advent  again  of  the  principle  of  State  patronage.  The  plan 
formerly  advocated  by  President  Peers  was  also  revived,  and  the  uni- 
versity was,  by  an  act  of  March  10,  185G,2  converted  into  a  State  nor- 
mal school,  especially  designed  to  supply  well- trained  teachers  for  the 
public  schools  of  the  State — a  much-needed  and  very  commendable 
object.  The  school  was  intended  to  be  an  indispensable  aid  to  the 
common-school  system,  and  the  cause  of  public-school  education  in 
Kentucky  had  never  looked  brighter  than  then.  This  reorganization 
of  the  university  was  doubtless  brought  about  largely  through  the  per- 
sistent agitation  of  the  matter  and  the  unremitting  efforts  in  that  direc- 
tion of  Rev.  Kobert  J.  Breckinridge,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  State  superintendent 
of  public  instruction  from  1847  to  1853,  and  an  enthusiastic  advocate  of 
a  State  normal  school. 

Under  the  new  arrangement  State  regulation  was  secured  by  the 
appointment  of  a  board  of  trustees  composed  of  the  former  trustees 
and  the  principal  State  officers.  The  State  was  to  contribute  $12,000  a 
year  to  the  enterprise,  $7,000  of  which  was  to  tre  used  to  aid  deserving 
teachers  unable  to  properly  educate  themselves,  and  $5,000  was  to  go 
to  the  general  support  of  the  institution.  The  grounds  and  buildings 
of  the  university  at  that  time  were  estimated3  to  be  worth  about 
$100,000,  and  its  whole  property  and  funds  about  $200,000,  its  income 
from  endowment  being  a  little  less  than  $4,000  annually.  The  institu- 
tion was  not  to  be  converted  into  a  normal  school  exclusively,  but  the 
normal  department  was  to  be  made  its  most  prominent  feature,  while 
other  regular  college  courses  were  to  be  maintained,  to  which  the  State 
teachers  were  to  have  free  access  and  thus  be  enabled  to  greatly 
broaden  their  education. 

An  excellent  president  was  selected  for  the  new  school  in  the  person 
of  Eev.  L.  W.  Green,  D.  D.  President  Green  resigned  the  presidency 
of  Hampden-Sidney  College  to  accept  the  position.  He  was  a  former 
student  of  Transylvania  University,  an  alumnus  of  Centre  College  in 
its  first  graduating  class  in  1824,  and  was  subsequently  a  professor 
there  before  going  to  Virginia. 

1  The  period  of  the  trial  of  this  experiment  is  usually  stated  as  three  years,  but 
the  university  catalogue  of  1850  and  the  announcement  of  the  medical  school  for 
1854  show  it  to  have  been  four  years.     There  were  92  medical  students  in  1850  and 
53  in  1854  (spring  session).    In  1850  there  were  125  students  in  the  academic  de- 
partment and  35  in  the  law  department. 

2  Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  76. 

3  President  Green's  inaugural  address. 


78  HISTORY    OF   HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

The  school  was  opened  auspiciously,  with  80  students,  on  September 
7,  1856,1  and  on  November  18  following 2  the  president  was  ceremoni- 
ously inaugurated  under  all  the  old  Transylvania  forms.  The  attend- 
ance rapidly  increased  and  under  the  judicious  management  of  Presi- 
dent Green  excellent  progress  toward  the  desired  ends  was  being  made, 
when  the  legislature,  on  February  13,  1858,  having  previously  refused 
for  some  reason  to  renew  the  appropriation  for  its  support,  repealed 
the  act  establishing  the  institution.  President  Green  had  already 
despaired  of  its  success,  and  had  resigned  in  the  latter  part  of  1857. 
He  became  the  president  of  Centre  College  on  January  1,  1858. 

So,  at  the  end  of  the  two  years  for  which  the  original  appropriation 
had  been  made,  the  normal-school  feature  of  the  university  was  entirely 
abandoned  and  the  institution  reverted  to  its  status  prior  to  the  act  of 
1856.  The  only  reason  the  writer  has  seen  suggested  for  the  with- 
drawal of  legislative  support  from  the  normal  school  was  that  the 
appropriation  made  in  its  behalf  encroached  on  the  revenue  of  the 
public-school  fund,  from  which  it  seems  to  have  been  drawn. 

After  1858  the  university  sunk  hopelessly.  Its  academic  department 
struggled  on  for  a  time  under  Abrain  Drake,  and  during  the  civil  war 
became  simply  a  local  grammar  school  under  Prof.  J.  K.  Patterson,  the 
present  efficient  president  of  the  State  College.  It  lost  one  of  its  dor- 
mitories in  1860  by  fire. 

The  medical  department  of  the  university  existed,  with  varying  suc- 
cess, up  to  the  opening  of  the  civil  war.  Its  faculty  in  1859  was  com- 
posed of  Drs.  E.  -L.  Dudley,  S.  L.  Adams,  W.  S.  Chipley,  B.  P.  Drake, 
S.  M.  Letcher,  H.  M.  Skillman,  J.  M.  Bush,  and  Robert  Peter.  Its 
building  was  for  a  time  used  as  an  army  hospital,  and  was  on  May  22, 
1863,  destroyed  by  a  fire,  which  also  consumed  practically  all  its  equip- 
ment. The  school  had  had,  altogether,  6,406  students,  of  whom  1,854 
had  graduated.3  It  has  never  been  resurrected  since  on  its  old  basis, 
but  a  department  of  Kentucky  University  was  for  a  time  maintained 
under  a  similar  name. 

The  law  department  had  a  somewhat  similar  history  during  this 
period,  closing  its  career  at  the  opening  of  the  war.  Judge  Kobertson 
remained  connected  with  it  most  if  not  all  of  the  time,  and  its  other 
professors  during  this  period  were  Madison  C.  Johnson,  George  B.  Kin- 
kead,  and  Francis  K.  Hunt.  The  last  three  were  later  connected  with 
law  departments  of  Kentucky  University.  Judge  Robertson,  during  his 
long  connection  with  the  school,  extending  for  more  than  twenty  years, 
had  lectured  to  more  than  3,000  young  men,  2,000  of  whom  had 
graduated.4 

The  libraries  and  apparatus  of  all  kinds  belonging  to  the  university 
were  scattered  and  much  of  them  destroyed  during  the  war,  and  its 

1  Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  76. 
3 Ibid,  Vol.  I,  p.  77. 

3  Ibid,  Vol.11,  p.  184. 

4  Biographical  Sketch  of  Gov.  L.  W.  Powell,  p.  23. 


TRANSYLVANIA   UNIVERSITY.  79 

prospects  were  indeed  gloomy  near  the  end  of  that  struggle.  The  trus- 
tees had,  in  1863,  shortly  after  the  acceptance  of  the  gift  to  the  State 
from  the  General  Government,  made  by  the  Congressional  land-grant 
act  of  1862,  endeavored  to  have  the  institution  made  the  foundation  of 
the  agricultural  and  mechanical  college  provided  for  by  that  act,  but 
the  State  did  not  then  undertake  the  establishment  of  that  institution, 
nor  accept  the  very  advantageous  offer  made  by  the  trustees  of  the 
university. 

The  outlook  for  the  latter  institution  had  not  improved  in  1864,  when 
Kentucky  University,  having  lost  its  building  at  Harrodsburg  by  fire, 
was  looking  for  a  new  location.  The  trustees  of  Transylvania,  then 
seeing  their  opportunity  to  perpetuate  the  character  and  usefulness  of 
Lexington  as  an  educational  center,  proposed  to  transfer  all  its  property 
and  funds,  amounting  at  that  time  to  about  $100,000  in  real  estate  and 
$59,000  in  endowment,  to  Kentucky  University,  on  condition  of  that 
institution  being  located  in  Lexington  and  fulfilling  all  the  trusts  incum- 
bent under  the  charter  of  Transylvania  University.  Their  offer  was 
accepted  and  the  union  with  Kentucky  University  consummated  by  the 
aid  of  legislative  action  on  January  22,  1865. 

While  the  equity  of  this  transfer  of  what  was  largely,  at  least  legally, 
State  property  to  a  denominational  institution  may  be  questioned  by 
some,  it  is  certainly  true  that  that  property  has  since  been  of  eminently 
more  educational  value  to  the  people  of  the  State  at  large  than  it  was 
at  the  time,  or  than  it  seemed  likely  to  be  at  any  time  soon.  Since 
January,  1865,  Transylvania  University  has  ceased  to  exist  as  a  separate 
institution,  becoming  then  a  part  and  parcel  of  Kentucky  University, 
with  the  history  of  which  her  history  has  since  blended. 

The  reasons  for  the  failure  of  Transylvania  University,  as  indicated 
by  the  progress  of  this  narrative,  are  not  far  afield,  but  as  they  are  of 
some  special  interest,  and  perhaps  in  some  ways  instructive,  it  may  be 
worth  while  to  recount  them  somewhat  explicitly,  as  follows : 

(1)  The  initial  endowment,  as  in  the  case  of  the  early  academies,  was 
not  sufficient  to  make  the  institution  self-sustaining,  nor  had  the  State 
sufficiently  committed  herself  to  the  policy  of  ample  regular  appropri- 
ations supplementary  to  the  endowment.     The  State  had  not  assumed 
moral  or  pecuniary  obligations  sufficiently  large,  nor  had  she  committed 
herself  to  a  policy  of  sufficiently  liberal   support  through  taxation, 
either  or  both  of  which  could  be  pleaded  in  behalf  of  future  aid.    Unless 
something  of  the  kind  had  been  done  in  the  early  history  of  the  insti- 
tution through  the  influence  of  prominent  public  men,  as  was  the  case 
later  in  regard  to  Jefferson  and  the  University  of  Virginia,  public 
opinion  was  not  sufficiently  strong  in  its  behalf  to  demand  that  the 
university  be  properly  supported. 

(2)  The  institution  was  never  made  a  distinctively  State  enterprise, 
as  the  State  had  only  a  partial  control  over  it,  being,  as  a  rule,  asso- 
ciated with  some  form  of  denominational  management,  the  power  of 


80  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

each  being  just  sufficient  to  hinder  and  weaken  that  of  the  other. 
Either  power  by  itself  might  have  built  up  a  great  university,  but 
together  they  could  not,  as  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  cooperate 
harmoniously.  Then,  too,  each  denomination  when  attempting  to  oper- 
ate the  institution  was  hampered  by  the  others,  as  was  later  the  case 
in  regard  to  Kentucky  University,  where  another  attempt  was  made  to 
build  up  a  great  university  witli  the  same  union  of  forces  as  in  the 
case  of  Transylvania  originally,  but  witli  these  forces  reversed  in  order. 

(3)  This  lack  of  proper  cooperation,  always  in  the  nature  of  the  case 
more  or  less  necessary,  was  rendered  much  more  so  in  the  early  history 
of  Kentucky  by  the  prevalence  in  the  State,  especially  among  its  pub- 
lic men  of  French  deistic  ideas,  which  naturally  put  the  religious  bodies 
more  on  the  defensive  and  made  them  more  sensitive  to  what  they 
thought  were  attacks  upon  their  faith,  when  probably  there  was  no 
intention  of  anything  of  the  kind.     This  same  feeling  seems  to  have 
led,  at  least  to  a  considerable  extent,  to  the  educational  institutions  of 
the  State  generally  taking  such  a  decided  denominational  character. 

(4)  By  reason  of  the  plan  of  joint  control  just  described  the  uni- 
versity was  never  placed  under  the  direct  supervision  of  the  State 
authorities,  who  could   hold  its   management  responsible  and  could 
themselves  be  called  to  account.     Its  board  of  trustees  were  in  the 
main,  throughout  its  history,  either  by  law  or  practice,  self-perpetuat- 
ing, not  even  having,  as  a  rule,  to  report  their  action  in  any  way  to  any 
superior  officer.    The  plan  of  their  organization  was  very  similar  to  that 
of  the  early  academy  boards,  and  gave,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of 
these,  great  opportunity  for  the  creation  and  perpetuation  of  factions 
among  themselves,  for  the  carrying  out  of  schemes,  denominational  or 
otherwise,  and  for  irresponsible  action  generally. 

The  record  of  Transylvania  University  for  the  two  generations  it 
existed  is,  in  many  respects,  a  proud  one.  Although  unusually  ham- 
pered in  its  usefulness  in  many  ways,  especially  by  the  unfortunate  plan 
of  its  organization  and  the  state  of  public  opinion  on  religious  and  edu- 
tional  questions — never  being  largely  endowed  or  regularly  supported 
by  either  State,  denomination,  or  individuals,  and  always  depending 
largely  on  tuition  fees  for  its  maintenance — it  perhaps  accomplished  as 
much,  or  even  more,  than  any  other  of  the  earlier  educational  institu- 
tions of  this  country  in  the  same  period,  counting  from  the  foundation 
of  each.  The  record  of  growth  and  expansion  during  the  Holley  era 
may  certainly  fairly  be  said  never  to  have  been  excelled,  if  equaled,  in 
America  in  the  same  length  of  time  until  comparatively  recent  years. 

The  history  of  the  professional  departments  was  especially  brilliant, 
for  a  long  time  almost  entirely  eclipsing  that  of  any  rivals  in  the  West 
of  that  day.  Its  medical  faculty,  with  the  celebrated  Dr.  Dudley  at  its 
head  for  forty  years,  and  at  various  times  including  such  other  men 
as  Caldwell,  Cooke,  Drake,  Short,  Yandell,  Cross,  Bush,  and  others, 
was  quite  generally  unsurpassed  of  its  kind  in  the  country.  The  fac- 


TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY.  81 

ulty  of  its  law  college,  embracing  at  different  times  such  names  as 
tliose  of  Barry,  Bledsoe,  Boyle.  Humphreys,  Mayes,  Eobertson,  Mar- 
shall, Woolley,  and  others,  was  almost,  if  not  quite,  as  noted. 

We  have  already  spoken  in  a  general  way  of  the  number  of  gradu- 
ates in  the  various  departments.  Among  the  names  of  these,  reaching 
in  number  into  the  thousands,  are  such  men  as  Josiah  Stoddard  John- 
ston, Richard  M.  Johnson,  Jefferson  Davis,  Dr.  B.  W.  Dudley,  Thorn  as  F. 
Marshall,  Eichard  H.  Menifee,  John  Boyle,  James  McChord,  Dr.  Joseph 
Buchanan,  John  Eowau,  William  T.  Barry,  Jesse  Bledsoe,  Charles  S. 
Morehead,  Elijah  Hise,  "Duke"  Gwinn,  Charles  A.  Wickliffe,  EobertH. 
Bishop,  Eobert  J.  Breckinridge,  and  a  host  of  others,  thus  described 
by  Collins, !  "statesmen,  jurists,  orators,  surgeons,  divines,  among  the 
greatest  in  the  world's  history — men  of  mark  in  all  the  professions  and 
callings  of  business  life." 

Morehead 2  speaks  as  follows  of  the  work  of  the  institution : 

"An  institution  which  has  nursed  to  maturity  the  intellect  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, having  in  the  progress  of  sixty  years  filled  her  assemblies 
with  lawgivers,  her  cabinets  with  statesmen,  her  judicial  tribunals  with 
ministers  of  justice,  her  pulpits  with  divines,  and  crowded  the  profes- 
sional ranks  at  home  and  abroad  with  ornaments  and  benefactors  to 
their  country." 

One  or  more  of  these  alumni  were  to  be  found  at  the  close  of  the  uni- 
versity's history  in  almost  every  community  of  any  size  in  the  South 
and  West,  where  they  were  principally  located,  and  upon  the  history 
of  which  sections  and  through  them  upon  that  of  the  whole  country 
they  have  exerted  a  great  influence. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

All  the  works  referred  to  iii  regard  to  the  early  State  university  system,  except 
Bradford's  Laws,  Littell  and  Swigert's  Statutes,  Spalding's  Early  Catholic  Missions, 
McMurtrie's  Sketches,  and  the  Report  of  the  Commissioners  of  1822,  also  contain 
some  information  about  Transylvania  University.  The  following  additional  author- 
ities have  been  consulted  in  regard  to  the  facts  of  the  university's  history : 

Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit. 

Hening's  Statutes  at  Large  of  Virginia. 

Sketches  of  North  Carolina,  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Foote,  D.  D.,  New  York,  1846. 

A  Tour  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Kentucky  in  1805,  by  Josiah  Espy,  Cincinnati,  1871. 

A  History  of  the  Church  in  Kentucky  for  Forty  Years,  Containing  the  Memoirs  of 
Rev.  David  Rice,  by  Robert  H.  Bishop,  Lexington,  1824. 

Notes  on  Kentucky  History,  by  John  Bradford,  published  in  the  Kentucky  Gazette 
between  August  25,  1826,  and  January  9,  1829. 

An  address  delivered  at  Boonesborough  in  Commemoration  of  the  First  Settlement 
of  Kentucky,  by  J.  T.  Morehead,  Frankfort,  1840. 

A  History  of  Lexington,  Ky.,  by  George  W.  Ranck,  Cincinnati,  1872. 

An  address  to  the  Public  in  regard  to  the  Controversy  about  President  Holley,  by 
Professors  Barry,  Bledsoe,  Dudley,  and  Caldwell,  Lexington,  1824. 

A  Discourse  on  the  Services  and  Character  of  Rev.  Horace  Holley,  LL.  D.  (also 
called  Memoirs),  by  Charles  Caldwell,  M.  D.,  Boston,  1828. 


2127— No.  25 6 


1  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  II,  p.  184. 

2  Boonesborough  address,  p.  81. 


82  HISTORY   OF   HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

Autobiography  of  Charles  Caldwell,  M.  D.,  edited  by  Harriot  W.  Warner,  Philadel- 
phia, 1855. 

Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Services  of  Daniel  Drake,  M.  D.,  by  E.  D.  Mansfield,  LL.  D., 
Cincinnati,  1855. 

Memoirs  of  Rev.  Thomas  Cleland,  D.  D.,  by  E.  P.  Humphrey  and  Thomas  H.  Cleland, 
Cincinnati,  1859. 

The  Life  of  Rev.  H.  B.  Bascom,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  by  Rev.  M.  M.  Henkle,  Nashville,  1856. 

A  Scrapbook  of  Law,  Politics,  Men,  and  Times,  by  George  Robertson,  LL.  D.,  Lex- 
ington, 1855. 

A  Biographical  Sketch  of  Hon.  L.  W.  Powell,  by  direction  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly, Frankfort,  1868. 

Thoughts  on  Medical  Education  in  America,  by  Robert  Peter,  M.  D.,  Lexington,  1838. 

Thoughts  on  Public  Education  in  America,  by  Robert  Peter,  M.  D.,  Frankfort,  1877. 

The  Minutes  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Transylvania  University.  These  are 
preserved  in  the  archives  of  Kentucky  University  and  are  quite  complete  up  to 
February,  1818,  after  which  date  they  are  quite  fragmentary. 

By-Laws  of  Transylvania  University,  Lexington,  1818. 

Inaugural  Address  of  President  Woods,  Lexington,  1828. 

Laws  of  Transylvania  University,  Lexington,  1829. 

The  Transylvania  Journal  of  Medicine  for  October,  November,  and  December,  1831. 

Inaugural  Address  of  President  Peers,  Lexington,  1833. 

Extra  of  the  Lexington  Intelligencer  for  April  11,  1837. 

Statutes  of  Transylvania  University,  Lexington,  1842. 

A  communication  from  the  Commissioners  of  Kentucky  Conference  to  the  Legisla- 
ture of  Kentucky  in  reply  to  a  Memorial  from  the  Trustees  of  Augusta  College,  Lex- 
ington, 1843. 

The  Transylvania  Journal  of  Medicine  for  December,  1850. 

Inaugural  Address  of  President  Green,  Frankfort,  1856. 

Reports  of  the  State  Superintendents  of  Public  Instruction,  from  1839  to  1857,  and 
Appendix  to  the  Report  of  1875-76. 

Niles's  Weekly  Register,  September,  1811,  to  July,  1849;  third  edition.  76  volumes, 
Baltimore,  Washington,  and  Philadelphia,  1816-1849. 

The  American  Almanac  and  Repository  of  Useful  Knowledge,  1830-1861,  32  vol- 
umes, Boston  and  New  York,  1830-1861. 

The  last  two  authorities  have  been  consulted  mainly  for  the  statistics  used,  which 
in  the  case  of  Transylvania,  have  been  fully  verified  by  reference  to  a  number  of  old 
catalogues.  The  History  of  Transylvania  University,  by  Robert  Peter,  M.  D.,  edited 
by  Johanna  Peter,  Louisville,  1896,  has  been  carefully  examined;  but,  as  this  chap- 
ter had  been  practically  completed  before  it  was  accessible,  very  little  use  has  been 
made  of  it,  and  what  has  been  made  is  duly  credited  in  the  footnotes. 


Chapter  IV. 


INSTITUTIONS   MORE  OR  LESS   DIRECTLY  CONNECTED  WITH 
TRANSYLVANIA  UNIVERSITY  AND  OLDER  COLLEGES. 


KENTUCKY   UNIVERSITY,    LEXINGTON. 

Kentucky  University,  in  the  most  extensive  use  of  the  name,  may  be 
said  not  to  have  come  into  existence  until  the  regular  ratification,  on 
June  20, 1865,  by  the  board  of  curators  of  the  previous  Kentucky  Uni- 
versity of  the  legislative  a^t  of  February  28, 1865,  which  completed  the 
arrangements  for  uniting  the  older  Kentucky  University,  Transylvania 
University,  and  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  into  one  gen- 
eral institution,  which  was  designed  to  be,  and  actually  was  for  a  time, 
the  most  extensive  in  the  history  of  the  State.  The  Agricultural  and 
Mechanical  College  was  then  just  being  brought  into  existence,  but  the 
former  Kentucky  University  and  Transylvania  University  both  had  his- 
tories extending  considerably  back  of  this  date,  that  of  the  latter,  as 
we  have  seen,  reaching  even  to  the  beginnings  of  Kentucky. 

We  have  traced  the  history  of  Transylvania  University  up  to  the 
time  of  this  union  and  will  now  take  up  the  other  source  of  the  enlarged 
University,  bringing  its  history  up  to  the  same  date  before  beginning 
the  history  of  the  combined  institution.  The  primary  origin  of  the 
original  Kentucky  University  is  to  be  found  in  Bacon  College,  whose 
history  will  now  for  a  time  engage  our  attention. 

BACON   COLLEGE. 

This  institution  is  one  of  the  many  arising  in  Kentucky  between  1830 
and  1840,  owing  to  the  desire  of  the  various  denominations  to  possess 
institutions  over  which  they  would  have  direct  control  and  which  would 
serve  their  purposes  better,  as  they  considered,  than  Transylvania  Uni- 
versity, previously  the  most  important  educational  institution  in  the 
State. 

The  beginnings  of  the  college  are  to  be  found  in  a  school  opened  at 
Georgetown,  Ky.,  on  .November  7,  1836,1  by  T.  F.  Johnson,  formerly  a 
professor  in  Georgetown  College,  assisted  by  tutors  Mullins  and  Knight. 
Its  pupils  numbered  only  50  or  60  at  first,  but  within  four  months  their 
number  had  increased  to  130.  The  school  was  from  its  inception  under 

1  Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  41. 

83 


84  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

the  patronage  of  the  denomination  known  as  Disciples  of  Christ,  or 
Christians,  and  had,  as  a  specially  fast  and  valuable  friend,  Elder  John 
T.Johnson,  then  a  prominent  man  in  that  church.  Its  prosperity  soon 
led  its  friends  to  think  of  enlarging  its  scope,  and  so,  mainly  through 
the  influence  of  Elder  Johnson,  a  charter  was  obtained  for  it  on  Febru- 
ary 23,  1837,  which  started  it  on  its  career  as  Bacon  College,  so  named 
in  honor  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  and  the  earliest  institution  of  its  grade 
established  by  the  Christian  Church. 

It  was  placed  under  the  control  of  a  board  of  six  trustees,  and  Walter 
Scott  was  selected  for  its  first  president.  We  know  comparatively  little 
of  the  history  of  the  institution  while  it  remained  at  Georgetown.  One 
fact  of  some  interest  in  connection  with  its  history  while  there  is,  that 
John  B.  Bowman,  a  man  to  be  so  prominently  connected  with  the  future 
of  the  institution,  was  then  one  of  its  students,  being  among  the  first 
to  enter  its  halls.  President  Scott's  connection  with  the  college  seems 
to  have  been  largely  nominal,  he  probably  not  having  entered  regularly 
upon  any  academic  duties,  and,  after  a  few  months  David  S.  Burnet 
became  the  first  active  president. 

The  success  of  the  institution  at  this  period  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  very  great,  and  accordingly,  in  the  summer  of  1839,  it  was  removed 
to  Harrodsburg,  Ky.,  as  being  a  more  eligible  location.  Elder  Johnson, 
who  was  one  of  its  first  curators,  had  especially  interested  himself 
about  the  time  of  its  removal  in  endeavoring  to  secure  for  it  an  endow- 
ment of  $100,000.  one-half  the  income  of  which  was  to  be  used  to  assist 
deserving  poor  youths  in  obtaining  an  education.  He  does  not  seem  to 
have  had  very  much  success  in  carrying  out  his  idea.  At  the  opening 
of  the  first  session  of  the  college  in  Harrodsburg,  on  September  2, 1839, 
its  endowment  appears  to  have  been  about  $20,000,  something  more 
than  one-half  of  which  was  invested  in  a  fairly  good  building. 

It  existed  for  some  time  at  its  new  location  with  varying  fortune.  It 
maintained  a  course  of  high  grade  and  soon  gained  an  excellent  repu- 
tation, but,  as  its  endowment  was  insufficient,  its  success  was  irregular. 
Collins  tells l  us  that,  in  1845-46,  there  were  in  attendance  upon  its 
classes  113  students,  from  9  different  States,  and  that  the  institution 
was  flourishing  in  1847,  with  180  students,  and  yet  we  find  that  in  1850 
it  was  suspended  and  virtually  abandoned  because  of  financial  difficul- 
ties. Various  plans  had  been  submitted  in  vain  and  many  unsuccessful 
efforts  made  for  its  permanent  upbuilding,  and  so  its  best  friends,  includ- 
ing its  curators,  had  practically  given  up  all  hope  for  its  future.  Its  his- 
tory as  Bacon  College  ends  with  its  suspension  in  1850,  for  when  it  was 
revived  several  years  later,  it  appears  under  a  new  name  and  with  a 
character  somewhat  different. 

Its  presidents  during  the  period  of  its  existence  as  Bacon  College, 
with  their  terms  of  service,  were  as  follows :  Walter  Scott,  few  months 
in  1837;  David  S.  Buruet,  1837-1839;  Samuel  Hatch,  1839-40;  James 

1  Sketches  of  Kentucky,  p.  114. 


KENTUCKY    UNIVERSITY.  85 

Shannon,  1840-1850.  Its  faculty  in  1847,  one  of  its  most  prosperous 
periods,  was  composed  as  follows:  James  Shannon,  president  and  pro 
fessor  of  intellectual,  moral,  and  political  science;  Samuel  Hatch, 
professor  of  chemistry  and  natural  philosophy;  Henry  H.  White,  pro- 
fessor of  mathematics  and  civil  engineering;  George  A.  Matthews, 
professor  of  ancient  languages;  E.  Askew,  teacher  in  the  preparatory 
department.  Its  library  at  that  time  numbered  1,600  volumes. 

During  its  existence  the  college  had  had  27  graduates,  among  whom 
especially  may  be  mentioned  John  B.  Bowman  and  H.  H.  White,  both 
later  so  prominently  connected  with  its  history,  Professor  White,  as  we 
have  seen,  being  already  a  member  of  its  faculty  before  its  suspension. 

THE   ORIGINAL,   KENTUCKY   UNIVERSITY. 

The  failure  of  Bacon  College  caused  John  B.  Bowman,  then  living 
near  Harrodsburg,  to  reflect  upon  the  consequences  due  to  the  loss  of 
the  institution  and  to  meditate  upon  a  plan  whereby  an  institution  of 
even  greater  compass  might  be  erected  on  the  ruins  of  his  alma  mater. 
After  mature  deliberation  he  determined,  in  1855,  to  devote  himself  to 
the  task  upon  a  plan  peculiarly  his  own,  and  accordingly,  in  the  winter 
of  1855-56,  leaving  his  own  important  business  affairs,  he  proceeded 
to  make,  in  behalf  of  his  design,  a  house  to  house  canvass  of  several 
counties  in  central  Kentucky,  where  his  denomination  was  particularly 
strong.  His  plan  was  to  get  the  members  of  his  6wn  church,  and 
others  interested  in  educational  matters,  to  contribute  in  the  form  of 
notes  in  which  the  payments  were  made  easy,  and  which,  as  they  were 
paid,  would  form  an  endowment  fund,  which  in  time,  being  invested, 
would  furnish  a  fixed  income  for  the  institution.  Scholarship  coupons 
were  issued  to  the  subscribers  in  proportion  to  the  amount  subscribed. 

Mr.  Bowman  met  with  a  hearty  response  in  his  canvass  and  was  suc- 
cessful, it  seems,  even  beyond  his  own  expectations;  but  his  ideas  grew 
as  the  funds  secured  enlarged.  In  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  days 
he  secured  $150,000,  contributed  chiefly  in  small  amounts,  and  given 
mainly  by  the  farmers  of  the  region,  and  mostly  by  members  of  the 
Christian  Church,  although  other  public- spirited  citizens  also  sub- 
scribed. 

For  the  better  materialization  of  his  ideas,  Mr.  Bowman,  through  the 
trustees  of  Bacon  College,  called  a  public  meeting  of  the  friends  and 
donors  of  that  institution  to  consult  about  its  reorganization.  This 
meeting  occurred  at  Harrodsburg  on  May  6,  1857,  and  was  numerously 
attended,  especially  from  the  counties  to  which  the  appeal  in  behalf  of 
the  new  plan  had  been  principally  directed.  It  was  harmonious  in 
spirit  and  earnest  in  action,  and  to  it  Mr.  Bowman  presented  the  report 
of  his  canvass  and  his  ideas  in  regard  to  the  proposed  institution.  It 
was  not  his  intention  to  reestablish  Bacon  College  in  its  old  form,  but, 
as  expressed  in  his  own  words,  to  found  an  "  institution  more  liberal  in 
all  its  appointments — permanent  in  its  nature — and  auxiliary  to  the 


86  HISTORY   OF   HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

cause  of  sound  morality  and  pure  religion  in  our  State/' ]  which  was  to 
be  made  easily  accessible  to  poor  young  men  of  the  industrial  classes. 

These  plans  were  heartily  approved  by  the  meeting,  and  a  committee 
of  conference  appointed  to  act  in  conjunction  with  the  trustees  of  Bacon 
College  in  determining  what  amendments  were  needed  to  the  charter 
of  the  college  in  order  to  carry  them  out.  Accordingly,  amendments 
were  obtained,  by  legislative  action  approved  January  15, 1858,  invest- 
ing, with  all  the  property  and  claims  of  Bacon  College,  a  new  body  of 
curators,  representing  the  various  counties  contributing  to  the  new 
enterprise,  who  were  to  be  not  less  than  thirty  in  number,  and  two- 
thirds  of  whom  must  be  members  of  the  Christian  Church  in  Kentucky. 
They  were  given  the  corporate  power  necessary  to  establish  "  a  first-class 
university,  upon  a  modern  American  and  Christian  basis,"  under  the 
title  of  Kentucky  University,  and  were  given  the  right  "  to  grant  such 
literary  honors  as  are  usually  granted  in  the  best  colleges  and  universi- 
ties in  the  United  States,"  the  diplomas  conferred  entitling  their  pos- 
sessors "to  all  the  immunities  and  privileges  which  by  law  or  usage  are 
allowed  to  the  possessors  of  diplomas  granted  by  any  other  college  or 
university  in  the  United  States." 

The  amended  charter,  with  its  enlarged  provisions,  was  accepted  by 
the  trustees  of  Bacon  College  on  February  2,  1858,  and  the  new  board 
of  curators,  at  their  first  meeting  on  February  4,  1858,  adopted  the 
necessary  laws  ^and  regulations  for  putting  it  into  operation.  They 
then  issued  an  address  to  the  public  on  the  history,  aims,  and  objects 
of  the  institution,  in  which  they  called  upon  its  friends  to  increase  the 
endowment,  which  they  proposed  to  make  at  least  $500,000,  and  declared 
that  what  had  been  done  was  only  a  small  amount  of  what  they  hoped 
to  do  in  the  future,  their  ideas  and  aims,  under  Mr.  Bowman's  inspira- 
tion, enlarging  as  the  means  for  carrying  them  out  increased.  Disavow- 
ing sectarian  purposes  and  deprecating  the  multiplicity  of  sickly  and 
puny  institutions  throughout  the  West,  not  furnished  with  "  the  true 
apparatus  of  an  education,"  they  only  proposed  to  lay,  in  their  day,  a 
foundation  upon  which  future  generations  might  build.  All  the  depart- 
ments of  a  genuine  university  were  contemplated,  embracing  normal 
and  agricultural  departments  as  well  as  literary  and  scientific  ones. 

The  beginning  of  the  new  Kentucky  University  is  to  be  found  in  a 
preparatory  department,  to  which  a  normal  department  was  attached, 
opened  in  Harrodsburg,  on  September  21, 1857,  under  the  name  of 
Taylor  Academy,  William  C.  Piper  being  its  principal  and  Joseph  B. 
Myers  his  assistant.  About  80  pupils  were  present  at  the  opening  of 
this  school  and  94  were  in  attendance  altogether  during  its  first  year. 
The  university  proper  was  first  opened  on  September  19,  1859,  with 
Eobert  Milligau,  A.  M.,  as  its  first  president,  who  was  duly  installed 
two  days  later. 

President  Milligan  associated  with  him  while  the  university  was  at 
Harrodsburg  Eobert  Eichardson,  Eobert  Graham,  L.  L.  Pinkerton, 

1  Minutes  of  the  meeting  of  the  friends  and  donors  of  Bacon  College,  page  7. 


KENTUCKY    UNIVERSITY.  87 

H.  H.  White,  and  J.  H.  Neville  as  professors  in  the  various  depart- 
ments which  were,  at  the  time,  biblical  literature  and  moral  philosophy, 
mathematics,  ancient  languages,  physical  science,  belles-lettres,  and 
modern  languages,  all  except  the  last,  which  might  be  substituted  for 
some  of  the  work  in  mathematics,  being  required  for  the  degree  of 
A.  B.  The  scientific  apparatus  of  the  university,  at  its  opening,  was 
estimated  to  be  worth  $10,000,  Mr.  Bowman  having  recently  raised 
$5,000  for  the  purchase  of  new  apparatus.  He  had  also,  about  the 
same  time,  secured  conditionally  an  additional  $50,000  for  the  purchase 
of  Harrodsburg  Springs  and  the  erection  on  that  splendid  estate  of 
new  buildings  for  the  institution.  He  was,  however,  disappointed  in 
securing  that  property. 

More  than  150  students  were  present  at  the  opening  in  1859,  and  194 
were  in  attendance  during  the  year.  One  hundred  and  seventy-two 
were  enrolled  in  1860-61.  The  advent  of  the  civil  war  reduced  the 
matriculation  considerably,  but  it  is  rather  remarkable,  considering  the 
circumstances,  that  during  that  struggle  not  a  week's  exercises  of  the 
university  were  suspended  nor  a  dollar  lost  from  its  endowment.  In 
1862-63  there  were  only  62  students,  but  in  1863-64  the  number  had 
increased  to  100. 

The  institution  was  conducted  at  Harrodsburg  until  the  summer  of 
1865,  having  14  graduates  between  1861,  the  first  year  since  the  open- 
ing to  send  out  a  graduating  class,  and  1865. 

On  February  23,  1864,  the  university  building  was  destroyed  by  a 
fire,  which  also  consumed  the  library  and  apparatus,  and  although  the 
next  session  was  continued  at  Harrodsburg,  the  institution  began  to 
look  around  for  another  location  and,  in  September,  1864,  received 
propositions  looking  toward  this  object  from  Covington  and  Louisville, 
as  well  as  one  from  the  trustees  of  Transylvania  University.  This  last 
offered  to  transfer  the  Transylvania  University  property  and  funds  to 
Kentucky  University,  provided  the  latter  should  be  moved  to  Lexing- 
ton and  the  two  institutions  consolidated  in  such  a  way  as  to  carry  out 
all  the  Transylvania  trusts.  This  offer  was  favorably  considered  and 
finally  accepted  by  the  curators  of  Kentucky  University. 

Committees  of  the  two  boards  had  met  in  Frankfort  in  January,  1865, 
to  make  the  final  arrangements  for  the  consolidation  and  to  secure  the 
necessary  legislative  ratification  of  their  action,  when  the  question  of 
making  provision  for  the  carrying  out  of  the  laud  grant  for  agricultural 
colleges,  made  by  Congress  in  1862,  came  before  the  legislature,  and 
that  body  seeming  to  be  unwilling  to  comply  with  the  conditions 
imposed,  Mr.  Bowman,  the  chairman  of  the  committee  of  the  Kentucky 
University  curators,  proposed  to  make  the  new  college  a  department  of 
the  university  in  such  a  way  as  to  fully  carry  out  the  intent  of  the  act 
of  Congress  in  regard  to  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts,  the  uni- 
versity furnishing  an  experimental  farm  and  the  requisite  buildings, 
to  cost  not  less  than  $100,000,  arid  giving  free  tuition  to  300  State 
students. 


88  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN    KENTUCKY. 

Accordingly  a  bill  to  this  effect  was  drawn  up,  and  after  an  animated 
discussion  in  which  the  principal  objection  was  to  the  denominational 
control  of  a  State  institution,  was  passed  by  a  large  majority,  being 
approved  on  February  22,  1865. l  The  union  with  Transylvania  Uni- 
versity was  accomplished  by  a  bill  approved  February  28, 1865.  These 
actions  were  accepted  by  the  curators  of  the  university  on  June  20, 1865, 
which  may  thus  be  considered  as  the  day  on  which  began 

THE   ENLARGED   KENTUCKY   UNIVERSITY. 

As  soon  as  the  acts  of  consolidation  had  been  passed,  Mr.  Bowman 
went  to  work  with  a  will  to  raise  the  needed  extra  endowment,  a  task 
which  he  accomplished  in  less  than  three  months,  being  able  to  report 
his  success  to  that  session  of  the  legislature  before  its  adjournment. 
He  not  only  secured  the  $100,000  needed  for  the  equipment  of  the  Agri- 
cultural and  Mechanical  College,  but  raised  an  additional  $30,000  which 
was  repaid  to  the  citizens  of  Harrodsburg  and  Mercer  County  who 
objected  to  the  removal.  In  the  enlarged  Kentucky  University  the 
dream  of  old  Transylvania's  developing  into  an  institution  ranking 
with  the  first  in  the  land  seemed  about  to  be  realized.  The  consolidated 
institution  had  an  endowment  of  at  least  about  $400,000,  and  property 
of  about  $200,000,  a  library  of  15,000  volumes,  with  ample  museums 
and  apparatus,  and  accommodations  considered  sufficient  for  1,500 
students.  Three  departments  of  the  university,  in  addition  to  a  pre- 
paratory department,  were  to  be  opened  at  once  in  Lexington;  the  col- 
leges of  the  Bible  and  of  law  having  been  added  to  the  previous  college 
of  literature,  science,  and  arts.  The  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Col- 
lege was  to  be  instituted  as  soon  as  the  funds  from  the  land  scrip 
donated  by  Congress  were  realized,  and  additional  medical,  normal, 
and  commercial  colleges  were  contemplated  in  the  near  future. 

All  the  professors  at  Harrodsburg,  except  Professor  Kichardson, 
accompanied  President  Milligan  to  Lexington.  President  Milligan 
devoted  his  attention  mainly  to  the  College  of  the  Bible,  in  which  he 
was  assisted  by  John  W.  McGarvey,  A.  M.  In  the  College  of  Arts  the 
faculty  had  been  increased  by  the  addition  of  John  Augustus  Williams, 
A.  M.,  Robert  Peter,  M.  D.,  J.  K.  Patterson,  A.  M.,  and  G.  F.  Eyraud, 
their  respective  chairs  being  intellectual  and  moral  philosophy,  chem- 
istry and  experimental  philosophy,  Latin,  and  the  French  language. 
Of  this  faculty,  besides  Dr.  Peter,  who  has  been  mentioned  in  another 
connection,  Professors  White  and  Neville  were  at  this  time  specially 
noted  for  their  scholarship  and  teaching  ability.  The  professors  in 
the  College  of  Law  were  M.  C.  Johnson,  LL.  D.,  W.  C.  Goodloe,  A.  M., 
and  R.  A.  Buckner,  A.  M.,  of  whom  Professor  Johnson  had  already 
established  a  reputation  as  a  member  of  the  law  faculty  of  Transylva- 
nia University. 

The  university  was  first  opened  in  Lexington  on  October  2, 1865,  with 

1  Chapter  968,  acts  of  1865. 


KENTUCKY    UNIVERSITY.  89 

about  300  students.  During  the  year  336  students  were  in  attendance 
altogether,  223  of  whom  were  in  the  College  of  Arts,  37  in  the  College 
of  the  Bible,  13  in  the  College  of  Law,  and  63  in  the  preparatory 
department. 

By  action  of  the  curators  on  July  17,  1865,  the  office  of  regent  had 
been  created  and  Mr.  Bowman  made  the  official  head  of  the  institution 
under  that  title.  In  1866,  when  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Col- 
lege was  put  into  operation,  the  new  plan  of  administration  was  more 
fully  carried  out,  the  regent  looking  after  the  general  interests  of  the 
university,  while  the  affairs  of  each  college  were  supervised  by  its  own 
presiding  officer.  Under  this  arrangement  President  Milligan,  the 
office  of  president  of  the  university  having  been  abolished,  became 
presiding  officer  of  the  College  of  the  Bible,  Professor  Graham  presid- 
ing officer  of  the  College  of  Arts,  Professor  Johnson  presiding  officer  of 
the  College  of  Law,  Prof.  A.  E.  Milligan  principal  of  the  preparatory 
department,  and  Professor  Williams  presiding  officer  of  the  new  Agri- 
cultural and  Mechanical  College. 

This  new  department  was  opened  on  October  1,  1866,  Mr.  Bowman 
having  that  year  purchased  for  its  use  "Ashland,"  the  home  of  Henry 
Clay,  and  an  elegant  adjacent  tract,  "  Woodlands,"  nearer  the  city, 
indeed  partly  within  the  city  limits,  paying  for  the  combined  magnifi- 
cent estate,  containing  433  acres  of  unsurpassed  beauty  and  fertility, 
$130,000.  As  the  land  scrip  had  not  yet  been  sold,  the  State  legislature, 
by  an  act  of  February  10,  1866, '  granted  to  the  university  the  loan  of 
$20,000  to  put  the  institution  into  immediate  operation.  It  occupied 
temporary  quarters  the  first  year,  but  in  1867  four  brick  buildings  were 
erected  at  "Woodlands"  for  its  officers  and  students,  and  in  1868  a 
mechanical  building  was  erected  at  "Ashland."  Its  effective  organi- 
zation was  largely  due  to  the  efforts  of  Professor  Williams,  its  presid- 
ing officer,  who,  however,  remained  at  its  head  for  only  one  year, 
resigning  for  more  congenial  work  in  1867,  when  he  was  succeeded  by 
J.  13.  Pickett,  A.  M.  In  1869  Professor  Pickett  was  succeeded  by 
Prof.  J.  K.  Patterson,  who  presided  over  it  during  the  remainder  of  its 
connection  with  the  university.  The  college  had  190  students  during 
its  first  year  and  220  the  second  year,  all  of  whom  were  required  to 
labor  two  hours  each  day,  either  on  the  ornamental  grounds,  the  farm, 
or  later  in  the  shops  of  the  institution,  the  course  otherwise  being  quite 
similar  to  that  of  the  College  of  Arts,  stress  being  put  particularly  upon 
civil  engineering,  modern  languages,  and  military  tactics. 

Enlargement  also  took  place  in  other  directions  and  changes  in  other 
departments  of  the  university.  In  1867  a  commercial  college  was 
added  by  the  association  with  the  university  of  Hollingsworth's  Busi- 
ness College,  a  relation  which,  while  lasting  some  time,  was  always 
more  or  less  nominal,  about  the  only  connection  being  the  privilege  of 
attendance  upon  university  classes  extended  to  matriculates  of  the 

1  Chapter  483,  acts  of  1866. 


90  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

business  college.  In  1870  the  preparatory  department  was  discontin- 
ued, and  in  January,  1874,  a  regular  medical  department,  called  the 
Transylvania  Medical  College,  with  seven  professors,  several  of  whom, 
including  Dr.  Bush,  had  formerly  been  connected  with  the  medical 
department  of  Transylvania  University,  was  inaugurated.  This  depart- 
ment was,  however,  never  a  very  great  success,  and  was  soon  discon- 
tinued. 

In  1869  Professor  Graham  resigned  as  presiding  officer  of  the  Col- 
lege of  Arts,  and  was  succeeded  in  that  position  by  Professor  White. 
Upon  his  voluntary  retirement  in  1877  Professor  Pickett  was  elected  to 
the  position.  The  course  in  this  department  had  been  maintained  on 
the  original  plan,  but  had  been  somewhat  enlarged,  the  schools  of 
natural  history,  history,  music,  and  drawing  having  been  added;  the 
first  two  were  additional  requirements  for  the  degree  of  A.  B. 

The  matriculation  of  the  institution  had  grown  with  its  enlargement 
and  soon  became  comparatively  quite  large.  In  1866-67  there  were 
502  students  in  all  departments;  in  1867-68,  650,  and  in  1868-69,  767. 
In  this  last  year  thirty  different  States  and  countries  were  represented 
by  the  students,  and  only  three  other  educational  institutions  in  the 
country  had  a  larger  matriculation.  So  it  appeared  the  institution  was 
going  to  overshadow  every  rival,  at  least  in  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
During  the  next  four  years  its  average  attendance  was  about  700,  the 
largest  number  being  772  in  1869-70. 

The  university,  however,  began  to  be  somewhat  financially  embar- 
rassed about  1873,  by  reason  of  some  of  its  stocks  failing  to  pay  divi- 
dends, owing  to  the  panic  of  that  year.  In  June,  1875,  $40,000  of  its 
endowment  fund  and  $30,000  of  its  building  fund  remained  uncollected, 
and  it  was  at  that  time  $37,000  behind  with  all  of  its  financial  obliga- 
tions. This  fact  partially  accounts  for  the  fact  that  "  a  most  unhappy 
issue  and  strife  arose  within  the  official  management." l  Many  of  the 
church  controlling  it  considered  it  too  great  a  burden  on  the  denomi- 
nation to  conduct  so  extensive  an  educational  enterprise,  and  thought 
the  union  with  the  Agricultural  College,  especially,  a  burden  rather 
than  an  advantage,  a  feeling  intensified  by  the  comparatively  small 
returns  realized  from  the  sale  of  the  land-scrip  fund,  from  which  much 
more  had  been  at  first  expected.  On  the  other  hand,  there  was  a  wide- 
spread dissatisfaction  throughout  the  State  against  any  kind  of  denom- 
inational control  of  this  college,  and  a  belief  that  it  would  succeed 
better  on  an  independent  basis,  a  feeling  also,  strange  as  it  may  seem, 
strengthened  by  the  same  land  sale  for  which  many  unjustly  blamed 
the  university  authorities. 

This  state  of  the  public  mind,  both  within  and  without  the  church, 
combined,  as  has  been  noticed,  with  financial  difficulties  to  some  extent, 
soon  destroyed,  by  producing  a  lack  of  confidence  in  his  plans  and  man- 
agement, the  usefulness  in  connection  with  the  institution  of  Mr.  Bow- 

1  Smith's  History  of  Kentucky,  p.  535. 


UFO*:- 


KENTUCKY    UNIVERSITY.  91 

man,  who  had  always  been  in  favor  of  a  comprehensive  university,  and 
led  to  his  resignation  as  regent,  that  office  being  abolished  by  the  cura- 
tors on  June  12, 1878. 

The  condition  of  public  feeling,  both  within  and  without  the  church, 
had  already  led  to  two  previous  acts,  both  of  which  necessarily  produced 
a  great  change  in  the  organization  of  the  university.  In  July,  1877, 
the  old  College  of  the  Bible  had  been  abrogated  and  a  new  one  insti- 
tuted, under  its  own  charter,  which  in  control  and  administration  was 
entirely  independent  of  the  university,  and  by  a  legislative  act  of 
March  13, 1878,1  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  had  also  been 
separated  from  the  institution.  This  led,  in  the  summer  of  1878,  to  the 
reorganization  of  the  university  upon  a  more  strictly  denominational 
basis,  and  to  its  becoming  for  the  future  one  of  the  important  denomina- 
tional colleges  of  the  State  rather  than  a  comprehensive  university, 
complete  in  all  of  its  departments,  into  which  Mr.  Bowman  had  labored 
to  develop  it. 

THE   LATER   UNIVERSITY. 

The  completion  of  the  reorganization  of  1878  left  of  the  former  univer- 
sity really  only  its  College  of  Liberal  Arts,  with  which  was  associated 
a  commercial  college,  as  the  Colleges  of  the  Bible  and  of  Agriculture  and 
the  Mechanic  Arts  had  previously  been  made  independent,  the  Medical 
College  was  already  suspended,  and  the  Law  College,  which  had  been 
declining  of  late,  was  discontinued  the  next  year. 

The  new  College  of  the  Bible  went  into  operation  in  the  fall  of  1878, 
the  old  one  having  continued  until  the  summer  of  that  year.  This  col- 
lege and  that  of  Liberal  Arts  have  since,  while  administratively  inde- 
pendent, been  conducted  in  close  union,  the  students  of  each  being 
freely  admitted  to  the  classes  of  the  other,  and  the  management  being 
such  otherwise  as  to  practically  make  them  still  parts  of  the  same  insti- 
tution. Some  notice  will  now  be  taken  of  the  history  of  each  of  these 
up  to  the  present  time,  together  with  the  movements,  partly  successful 
and  partly  not,  which  have  recently  been  made  to  put  the  university 
again  on  a  somewhat  enlarged  basis. 

THE   COLLEGE   OF   LIBERAL   ARTS. 

This  is  the  modern  title  of  the  older  College  of  Science,  Literature, 
and  the  Arts,  ordinarily  called  simply  the  College  of  Arts.  Upon  the 
abolition  of  the  office  of  regent  on  June  12, 1878,  the  office  of  president 
of  the  university  was  revived,  the  position  carrying  with  it,  ex  officio, 
that  of  presiding  officer  of  the  College  of  Arts.  To  this  position  Prof. 
H.  H.  White  was  at  that  time  elected,  and  continued  to  discharge  its 
duties  for  two  years,  when,  in  1880',  he  voluntarily  retired  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Charles  Louis  Loos,  who  held  the  position  for  seventeen  years, 
during  which  the  university  made  gratifying  progress  in  many  ways. 

1  Chapter  424,  Acts  of  1878. 


92  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

During  the  period  of  dissatisfaction  the  attendance  of  the  university 
had  necessarily  decreased,  there  being  only  125  students  in  the  College 
of  Arts  and  the  Commercial  College  combined  in  1877-78,  but  the  admin- 
istrations of  Presidents  White  and  Loos  soon  restored  confidence  in  the 
future  of  the  institution,  and  its  matriculation  has  for  several  years 
past  been  almost  constantly  larger  than  it  ever  was  as  a  separate 
department.  The  preparatory  department,  which  had  been  abolished  in 
1870,  was  restored  in  1878,  and'has  since  been  maintained  as  a  feeder  to 
the  larger  institution.  It  is  known  as  the  Academy.  The  Commercial 
College,  which  has  remained  associated  with  the  university,  without, 
however,  in  recent  years,  having  its  students  counted  as  a  part  of  the 
institution's  matriculation,  has  had,  since  1877,  Wilbur  E.  Smith  as  its 
successful  president.  It  has  become  one  of  the  most  important  schools 
of  its  kind  in  the  South,  and  annually  has  large  numbers  of  students 
from  many  different  States. 

The  course  of  instruction  in  the  college  of  arts  has  been  maintained 
substantially  on  its  original  plan,  but  some  modifications  have  taken 
place.  Upon  the  reorganization  in  1878  a  B.  S.  course  was  instituted, 
in  which  the  school  of  Greek  was  not  required,  as  that  of  modern  lan- 
guages was  not  in  the  A.  B.  course.  In  1893  a  B.  L.  course  was  added, 
which  does  not  require  the  schools  of  Greek  and  mechanics  and  astron- 
omy. In  1892  a  system  of  partial  electives  in  the  courses  of  study  was 
inaugurated,  which,  by  allowing  the  substitution  of  studies  for  each 
other  in  the  several  courses,  permits  a  considerable  modification  of 
these  in  accordance  with  the  student's  needs  and  tastes. 

The  schools  of  instruction  as  at  present  arranged  are:  Greek  lan- 
guage and  literature,  Latin  language  and  literature,  mathematics, 
mechanics  and  astronomy,  English  language  and  literature,  natural 
science,  sacred  history  and  evidences  of  Christianity,  civil  history, 
mental,  moral,  and  political  philosophy,  and  modern  languages.  Of 
these,  the  school  of  sacred  history  and  evidences  of  Christianity  has 
recently  been  especially  emphasized,  perhaps  more  so  than  formerly. 

The  faculty  of  the  college  has  in  recent  years  been  increased  by  the 
addition  of  two  new  members.  Its  equipment  was,,  in  1893-94,  mate- 
rially improved  by  the  erection  of  a  handsome  and  well-arranged  gym- 
nasium, supplied  with  modern  apparatus,  at  a  total  cost  of  something 
over  $10,000.  There  has  otherwise  been  no  material  increase  in  its 
property  or  funds  since  the  benefactions  raised  by  Mr.  Bowman.  Its 
grounds,  buildings,  and  apparatus  of  various  kinds  are  now  approxi- 
mately worth  $200,000,  and  its  endowment  funds  are  something  over 
the  same  amount. 

Its  graduating  class  has  in  recent  years  numbered  something  over 
twenty  annually.  Since  sending  out  its  first  graduating  class  in 
1861,  it  conferred,  altogether,  310  regular  degrees  up  to  and  including 
1898.  Of  these,  227  were  A.  B.;  34,  B.  S.j  12,  B.  L.j  32,  A.  M.;  3, 
M.  S.;  and  2,  C.  E.  It  also  granted  9  honorary  A.  M.'s  and  1  LL.  D. 


KENTUCKY    UNIVERSITY.  93 

Among  its  alumni  a  number  have  made  a  considerable  reputation  as 
teachers,  physicians,  lawyers,  ministers,  and  in  political  and  literary 
life.  Among  the  last  may  be  mentioned  particularly  James  Lane  Allen. 

THE    COLLEGE   OF    THE   BIBLE 

As  has  been  noted,  the  first  College  of  the  Bible,  which  was  an  inte- 
gral part  of  the  university,  was  organized  upon  the  removal  of  the 
institution  to  Lexington  in  1865,  and  closed  its  career  in  1878.  Presi- 
dent Milligan  was  its  first  presiding  officer,  and  he  and  J.  W.  McGarvey, 

A.  M.,  were  its  first  professors.     Professor  Milligan  died  in  1875,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Prof.  Robert  Graham,  who  at  that  time  resigned 
the  presidency  of  Hocker  Female  College  and  returned  to  the  service 
of  the  university,  he  and  Professor  McGarvey  constituting  the  faculty 
of  the  College  of  the  Bible  for  a  considerable  period.    The  first  College 
of  the  Bible  sent  out  its  first  graduating  class  in  1867,  and  had,  during 
its  existence,  a  total  of  65  alumni. 

The  present  College  of  the  Bible  was  separated  from  the  university 
in  July,  1877,  and  was  placed  by  its  new  charter  under  the  control  of 
its  own  board  of  trustees,  making  it  a  distinct  institution,  which  has, 
however,  since  remained  closely  associated  with  the  university.  Under 
the  new  arrangement  Professor  Graham  continued  as  its  presiding 
officer,  and  he  and  Professor  McGarvey  still  constituted  its  faculty, 
together  with  one  other  professor,  which  in  recent  years  has  been 
I.  B.  Grubbs,  A.  M. 

The  number  of  matriculates  of  the  college  increased  considerably 
after  1878,  there  being  54  in  1879-80  and  128  in  1887-88.  For  the  last 
few  years  the  attendance  has  averaged  nearly  150,  who  have  come 
from  as  many  as  twenty  different  States  of  the  Union  and  five  foreign 
countries.  This  necessitated  an  increase  in  the  faculty  in  June,  1895,  when 

B.  C.  Deweese,  A.  M.,  was  made  an  additional  professor.    At  the  same 
time  Professor  Graham,  while  still  retaining  his  chair,  retired  from  the 
position  of  presiding  officer,  in  the  duties  of  which  he  was  succeeded 
by  Professor  McGarvey,  who  is  the  present  executive  head  of  the  insti- 
tution. 

The  college  had,  up  to  this  time,  had  its  lecture  and  recitation  rooms 
in  the  main  university  building,  but  in  this  year  a  fine  new  building 
was  completed  for  it  at  a  cost  of  $25,000.  It  is  located  on  the  university 
grounds  and  furnishes  for  the  institution  excellent  class  rooms,  society 
halls,  a  chapel,  and  a  library  and  reading  room.  The  college  has  besides 
the  permanent  use  of  three  brick  buildings  on  the  university  campus, 
which  aiford  boarding  accommodations  for  about  100  of  its  students. 
Its  library  has  also  of  late  been  considerably  enlarged.  The  institution 
has  a  permanent  endowment  of  $5,000  for  its  library,  also  a  general 
endowment  of  about  $70,000. 

The  college,  while  intended  primarily  to  furnish  systematic  instruction 
in  the  Scriptures  both  in  English  and  the  original  tongues  and  other- 


94  HISTORY    OF   HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

wise  prepare  its  students  for  the  special  work  of  the  ministry,  does  not 
claim  to  be  strictly  a  professional  school,  but  receives  all  who  wish  to 
extend  their  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  from  those  who  have  only  a  com- 
mon school  education  to  those  who  possess  a  college  degree,  its  courses 
being  so  coordinated  with  those  of  the  college  of  arts  that  the  former 
class  of  students  can  profitably  pursue  strictly  classical  and  scientific 
work  at  the  same  time. 

The  institution  has  annually  a  number  of  students,  not  candidates 
for  graduation,  who  only  take  certain  special  studies,  while  it  also  con- 
fers diplomas  in  two  courses  made  up  from  the  following  independent 
schools  of  instruction : J  Sacred  history,  Christian  doctrine  and  church 
polity,  church  history,  hermeneutics  and  exegesis,  homiletics,  Hebrew 
language  and  literature,  philosophy,  mental,  moral  and  political,  Bibli- 
cal criticism,  Hellenistic  Greek,  vocal  music,  and  elocution.  No  degrees 
are  granted,  but  only  a  diploma  of  graduation  in  these  courses,  which 
are  called,  respectively,  the  classical  and  English  course.  The  former 
is  only  open  to  college  graduates,  is  three  years  in  length,  and  includes 
all  the  above  schools  except  the  last;  the  latter  requires  a  preliminary 
training  equivalent  to  a  college  course  to  the  end  of  freshman  year  in 
mathematics  and  natural  science,  and  to  the  end  of  junior  year  in 
English  language  and  literature,  and  the  completion  of  the  first  eight 
of  the  above  schools,  except  that  of  philosophy,  mental,  moral  and 
political,  a  course  extending  through  four  years. 

The  Kentucky  Christian  Education  Society,  an  independent  organi- 
zation of  the  church,  assists  annually  a  limited  number  of  deserving 
students  who  have  not  the  means  to  defray  all  their  expenses. 

The  College  of  the  Bible  has  in  recent  years  had  an  average  of  some- 
thing over  20  graduates  annually.  Its  total  alumni,  to  1898  inclusive, 
are  357,  of  whom  about  GO  have  graduated  in  the  classical  course,  the 
others  in  the  English  course.  Among  the  alumni  are  a  number  of  emi- 
nent ministers,  a  dozen  or  more  college  professors,  and  some  prominent 
editors  of  religious  papers. 

RECENT  HISTORY  OF   THE  UNIVERSITY  AS  A  WHOLE. 

The  university  as  a  whole,  looked  upon  as  an  association  of  cooperat- 
ing colleges,  has  of  late  years  enlarged  the  scope  of  its  instruction  and 
the  sphere  of  its  action  in  several  respects. 

In  1890  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts  and  the  Commercial  College  were 
opened,  in  all  their  privileges,  to  women  upon  the  same  terms  as  men. 

In  1892  the  College  of  Law,  which  had  closed  in  1879,  was  revived  with 
Hon.  Joseph  D.  Hunt  as  its  presiding  officer,  with  whom  were  associated, 
as  other  professors,  David  G.  Falconer,  John  T.  Shelby,  and  John  E. 
Allen.  The  success  of  the  college  was  not,  however,  sufficient  to  justify 
its  continuation  and  it  was  again  suspended  in  1895.2 

1  These  schools  require  different  times,  from  a  half  year  to  two  years, for  their  com- 
pletion.   A  half  year's  course  in  Old  Testament  criticisms  has  recently  been  added. 

2  The  two  colleges  of  law  during  their  existence  had  a  total  of  164  graduates. 


KENTUCKY    UNIVERSITY.  95 

In  November,  1897,  a  further  extension  of  the  operations  of  the  uni- 
versity was  brought  about  by  an  arrangement  which  constituted  the 
Kentucky  School  of  Medicine,  located  in  Louisville,  as  the  medical 
department  of  the  institution,1  thus  substituting  a  well-established  and 
vigorous  medical  college  for  the  former  medical  department,  closed  in 
1878,  and  also  reestablishing  an  old  connection,  as  the  Kentucky  School 
of  Medicine  is  in  a  sense  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  medical  department 
of  old  Transylvania  University. 

In  the  the  summer  of  1897  President  Loos,  after  seventeen  years  of 
capable  and  useful  service  in  the  position,  resigned  the  presidency  of 
the  university.  He,  however,  still  retained  his  professorship.  His 
successor  in  the  presidential  chair  of  the  institution  is  Rev.  R.  Lin.  Cave, 
who  assumed  the  executive  duties  of  the  institution  in  September,  1897, 
shortly  before  the  expansion  referred  to  above.  President  Cave  is  an 
alumnus  of  the  College  of  the  Bible  in  the  class  of  1867,  and  has  been 
mainly  engaged  in  the  active  work  of  the  ministry  of  his  church  since 
graduation.  He  has  had,  however,  some  special  training  for  his  present 
position  in  having  been  for  a  time  the  president  of  Christian  University, 
at  Canton,  Mo.  He  has  devoted  himself,  in  connection  with  the  uni- 
versity at  Lexington,  mainly  to  the  work  of  informing  the  public,  espe- 
cially his  denomination,  more  fully  in  regard  to  its  work  and  getting 
them  interested  in  its  welfare. 

The  faculty  of  the  medical  department  will  be  given  in  connection 
with  the  appended  sketch  of  the  Kentucky  School  of  Medicine. 

The  following  is  the  combined  faculty  of  the  colleges  of  the  university 
located  in  Lexington :  Rev.  R.  Lin.  Cave,  president  of  the  university  and 
ex-officio  presiding  officer  of  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts ;  Charles  Louis 
Loos,  LL.  1).,  professor  of  the  Greek  language  and  literature;  John  W. 
McGarvey,  A.  M.,  president  of  the  College  of  the  Bible  and  professor 
of  sacred  history  and  evidences  of  Christianity;  Wilbur  R.  Smith,  pre- 
siding officer  of  the  Commercial  College;  Henry  H.  White,  LL.  D., 
professor  emeritus  of  mathematics  and  astronomy;  Robert  Graham, 
A.  M.,  professor  of  mental,  moral,  and  political  philosophy;  Alexander 
R.  Milligan,  A.  M.,  professor  of  the  Latin  language  and  literature; 
Isaiah  B.  Grubbs,  A.  M.,  professor  of  exegesis,  church  polity,  and  church 
history;  Alfred  Fairhurst,  A.  M.,  professor  of  natural  science;  Charles 
J.  Kemper,  A.  M.,  professor  of  the  French  and  German  languages  and 
of  mechanics  and  astronomy;  Clarence  C.  Freeman,  A.  M.,  professor  of 
the  English  language  and  literature,-  Richard  H.  Ellett,  A.  M.,  pro- 
fessor of  mathematics;  Walter  G.  Conley,  A.  M.,  professor  of  sacred 
history  and  evidences  of  Christianity;  Benjamin  C.  Deweese,  A.  M., 
professor  of  Hebrew  and  homiletics;  Mrs.  A.  R.  Bourne,  professor  of 
civil  history  and  assistant  professor  of  English. 

lThe  connection  between  the  Kentucky  School  of  Medicine  and  Kentucky  Uni- 
versity was  dissolved  in  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  of  1898,  and  the  university 
established  a  new  medical  department,  also  located  in  Louisville. 


96  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN    KENTUCKY. 

There  are  besides  an  assistant  in  the  Academy  and  an  instructor  in 
elocution,  also  a  number  of  other  teachers  in  the  Commercial  College. 
Professor  White,  while  having  given  up  the  duties  of  his  professorship, 
still  continues  a  long  arid  honorable  service  for  the  institution  by  acting 
as  its  treasurer  and  librarian. 

THE   KENTUCKY    SCHOOL,    OF   MEDICINE,   LOUISVILLE. 

As  has  been  mentioned  above,  this  school  became,  in  November,  1897, 
the  medical  department  of  Kentucky  University,  thus  resuming,  even 
more  closely  than  formerly,  an  old  relation,  as  we  have  already  seen 
that  the  medical  faculty  of  Transylvania  University,  the  predecessor 
of  the  present  Kentucky  University,  had  a  large  share  in  founding  the 
Kentucky  School  of  Medicine,  and  that  the  two  schools  were  in  this 
way  connected  for  several  years.  Others  were,  however,  interested  in 
the  establishment  of  the  new  school,  the  second  of  its  kind  in  Louisville. 
The  first  steps  looking  toward  its  organization  were  taken  in  1847,  when 
a  number  of  the  most  eminent  physicians  and  other  citizens  of  Louis- 
ville petitioned  the  State  legislature  for  a  charter  for  the  enterprise 
from  considerations  of  public  policy  as  well  as  in  the  interests  of  med- 
ical education.  For  some  reason  the  legislature  did  not  see  fit  to  grant 
a  charter  at  that  session.  Another  unsuccessful  attempt  to  secure  a 
separate  charter  was  made  at  the  next  session,  as  well  as  an  equally 
futile  one  to  have  the  proposed  medical  school  made  explicitly  the 
medical  department  of  the  Masonic  University,  then  in  operation  at 
Lagrauge,  Ky.  Finally,  in  1849,  the  charter  of  this  institution  was 
modified  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  it  university  privileges,  and  under 
this  provision  of  its  charter  the  Kentucky  School  of  Medicine  was 
opened  in  the  succeeding  year. 

Just  about  the  time  the  matter  of  the  charter  had  been  arranged^ 
the  sessions  of  the  medical  department  of  Transylvania  University 
were  changed  from  fall  and  winter  to  spring,  and  its  faculty  were 
invited,  on  account  of  the  eminence  of  their  services  and  their  reputa- 
tion as  teachers,  by  those  in  Louisville  interested  in  the  new  school  to 
take  part  in  its  organization.  They  accordingly  constituted  the  main 
part  of  its  first  faculty.  The  first  session  of  the  Kentucky  School  of 
Medicine  was  opened  in  Louisville  on  the  first  Monday  in  November, 
1850,  and  its  initial  faculty  was  composed  as  follows:  Benjamin  W. 
Dudley,  M.  D.,  emeritus  professor  of  anatomy  and  surgery;  Robert 
Peter,  M.  D.,  professor  of  medical  chemistry  and  toxicology:  Samuel 
Annan,  M.  D.,  professor  of  pathology  and  the  practice  of  medicine; 
Joshua  B.  Flint,  M.  D.,  professor  of  the  principles  and  practice  of 
surgery;  Ethelbert  L.  Dudley,  M.  D.,  professor  of  descriptive  anatomy 
and  histology;  Lewellyn  Powell,  M.  D.,  professor  of  obstetrics  and  dis- 
eases of  women  and  children ;  James  M.  Bush,  M.  D.,  professor  of  surgi- 
cal anatomy  and  operative  surgery ;  Henry  M.  Bullitt,  M.  D.,  professor  of 
physiology  and  materia  rnedica;  Philip  Thornberry,  M.  Dv  John  Bart- 


KENTUCKY    SCHOOL    OF    MEDICINE.  97 

lett,  M.  D.,  demonstrators  of  anatomy.  Of  this  faculty,  Drs.  Peter, 
Annan,  E.  L.  Dudley,  and  Bash  were,  with  one  exception,  the  medical 
faculty  of  Transylvania  University  at  the  time,  while  Drs.  Flint,  Powell, 
and  Bullitt  were  additional  members  from  Louisville.  Dr.  Bullitt  was 
made  the  first  dean  of  the  faculty.  Dr.  B.  W.  Dudley's  connection 
with  the  school,  as  with  Transylvania  University  at  the  time,  was  only 
nominal.  It  was  originally  intended  that  he  should  from  time  to  time 
deliver  lectures  on  special  points  of  surgical  doctrine  and  practice,  but 
it  is  known  that  he  never  delivered  any  of  these.  The  first  quarters  of 
the  institution  were  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Fifth  and  Green  streets, 
where  an  amphitheater  capable  of  seating  400  students  had  been  fitted 
up,  besides  a  convenient  dissecting  room  and  rooms  for  a  library  and 
museum.  Dr.  Peter  had  been  sent  East  the  previous  summer  to  pur- 
chase the  apparatus  for  n  complete  modern  laboratory,  and  Dr.  Bush 
had  been  dispatched  to  Europe,  where  he  had  secured  an  excellent 
anatomical  cabinet. 

The  original  course  of  the  school  was  the  one  then  generally  in  vogue 
in  Transylvania  and  elsewhere,  of  two  courses  of  lectures,  with  one 
year's  office  study.  The  sessions  at  first  were  four  months  in  length, 
beginning  the  first  of  November. 

The  institution  was  fairly  prosperous  from  the  start,  having  101  stu- 
dents the  first  year,  a  number  of  them  being  advanced  students  from 
Transylvania  and  elsewhere,  of  whom  35  were  graduated  at  the  end  of 
the  session.  For  the  next  year,  Dr.  Annan  resigned  and  Dr.  Thomas 
D.  Mitchell,  the  remaining  member  of  the  Transylvania  medical  faculty 
of  the  year  before,  was  made  professor  of  the  theory  and  practice  of 
medicine,  Dr.  Bullitt  taking  the  chair  of  physiology  and  pathology, 
and  E.  D.  Force,  M.  D.,  of  Louisville,  becoming  professor  of  materia 
inedica  and  therapeutics;  at  the  same  time  Dr.  Flint  succeeded  Dr. 
Bullitt  as  dean  of  the  faculty.  There  were,  that  session,  110  students 
and  26  graduates,  while  the  third  year  there  were  101  students  and  31 
graduates. 

In  1854  Drs.  Peter,  Dudley,  Bush,  and  Mitchell  severed  their  con- 
nection with  the  school,  as  the  Transylvania  Medical  School  at  that 
time  resumed  its  winter  sessions;  Dr.  Powell  also  resigned,  so  the 
faculty  of  the  Kentucky  School  of  Medicine  had,  as  new  professors, 
Drs.  Robert  J.  Breckinridge,  Thomas  W.  Colescatt,  J.  G.  Norwood, 
John  Hardiii,  and  L.  M.  Lawson,  who  held  the  chairs,  respectively,  of 
materia  inedica  and  clinical  surgery,  anatomy,  chemistry,  obstetrics 
and  diseases  of  women  and  children,  and  theory  and  practice  of  medi- 
cine and  clinical  medicine.  The  institution  then  became  entirely  an 
independent  school  and  remained  so  until  its  recent  connection  with 
Kentucky  University,  its  affairs  being  managed  by  a  board  of  seven 
self-perpetuating  regents. 

At  an  early  date  in  its  history,  the  school,  in  order  to  secure  a  better 
season  of  the  year  and  better  suit  the  courses  of  other  schools,  changed 
2127— No.  25 7 


98  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

its  sessions  to  the  spring,  a  custom  which  it  has  since  maintained,  and 
which  it  was  the  first  institution  to  follow  as  a  regular  \  olicy.  The 
school  continued  many  years  in  its  original  location,  during  which  time 
it  continued  to  grow  in  public  favor.  In  1866  an  affiliation  was  formed 
between  it  and  the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Louisville, 
a  joint  faculty  of  ten  professors  being  appointed  from  the  two  faculties; 
but  this  connection  lasted  only  about  a  year,  at  the  end  of  which  each 
institution  resumed  its  separate  existence. 

The  prosperity  of  the  Kentucky  school  was  such  that  after  a  time 
it  was  forced  to  seek  larger  and  better  quarters,  which  were  obtained 
at  its  present  location  on  Sixth  street,  between  Walnut  and  Chestnut 
streets,  where  its  original  building  was  capacious  and  well  adapted  to 
its  uses.  The  institution  has  put  stress  upon  practical  and  demonstra- 
tive teaching  and  early  had,  as  a  part  of  its  equipment,  a  dispensary 
to  furnish  the  desired  clinical  advantages.  In  1890  laboratories  of 
histology,  pathology,  and  bacteriology  were  added  to  the  previous 
laboratories  of  chemistry,  of  materia  medica  and  pharmacy,  and  of 
anatomy,  and  at  the  same  time  the  ample  museum  was  refitted.  Since 
then  clinical  and  surgical  laboratories  have  been  established.  In  1894, 
in  order  to  further  enlarge  the  clinical  advantages  of  the  school,  its 
faculty  had  erected,  in  connection  with  the  college  building,  a  large 
auxiliary  hospital  at  a  cost  of  $50,000.  This  building  is  a  credit  to  the 
city  and  its  founders.  It  is  fitted  throughout  with  modern  appliances 
and  its  appointments  are  in  every  way  commodious  and  elegant. 

The  graduation  requirements  of  the  institution  have,  in  recent  years, 
been  brought  up  to  those  of  the  foremost  medical  schools  of  the  country. 
In  1892  a  preliminary  matriculation  examination  and  a  three-years' 
course  of  lectures  were  required  of  all  students  entering  that  year,  and 
in  1895  the  regular  matriculation  requirements  and  lecture  courses  of 
four  years  of  the  Association  of  American  Medical  Colleges  were  made 
essential  to  graduation.  The  sessions  of  the  school  now  extended  six 
months,  from  January  1  of  each  year. 

The  course  of  instruction  is  that  of  a  modern  progressive  institution, 
and  embraces  the  following  departments:  Anatomy,  chemistry,  physi- 
ology, materia  medica,  therapeutics,  physical  diagnosis,  medicine  and 
clinical  medicine,  diseases  of  children,  nervous  diseases,  hygiene, 
obstetrics,  gynecology  and  abdominal  surgery,  operative  gynecology, 
surgery  and  clinical  surgery,  ophthalmology  and  otology,  venereal  and 
skin  diseases,  dental  surgery,  medical  jurisprudence,  and  medical 
physics. 

The  popularity  of  the  school  is  attested  by  its  large  annual  matricu- 
lation, which  has  not  been  largely  reduced  by  the  additional  require- 
ments for  graduation  recently  instituted.  In  1889, 263  students  were  in 
attendance  upon  its  classes;  in  1891  their  number  had  increased  to  411, 
and  in  1892  to  504,  these  last  representing  34  States  and  Territories  of 
the  United  States  and  6  other  countries.  The  average  matriculation 


KENTUCKY    SCHOOL    OF    MEDICINE.  99 

for  the  past  two  years  lias  been  338.  There  were  104  graduates  in 
1889,  155  in  1801,  and  188  in  1894.  The  average  for  the  past  two  years 
has  been  79.  The  school  had  educated,  altogether,  something  over  5,000 
physicians  up  to  1898,  inclusive.  Its  graduates  are  scattered  through- 
out the  States  and  Territories,  and  many  of  them  have  won  prominence 
and  distinction  in  practice  and  teaching  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 
Besides  these  already  mentioned  and  the  present  faculty  of  the  insti- 
tution, the  following  prominent  physicians  have,  among  others,  at  differ- 
ent times  been  connected  with  its  faculty  for  longer  or  shorter  periods: 
T.  G.  Eichardson,  Middleton  Goldsmith,  A.  B.  Cook,  G.  W.  Bayless,  J. 
M.  Bodine,  N.  B.  Marshall,  0.  W.  Wright,  L.  J.  Frazee,  George  J.  Cook, 
and  J.  A.  Ireland. 

The  following  are  the  present  regular  professors  in  the  school : 
Samuel  E.  Woody,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  chemistry,  public 
hygiene,  and  diseases  of  children;  William  H.  Wathen,  M.  D.,  LL.  D., 
professor  of  obstetrics,  abdominal  surgery,  and  gynecology;  Martin. 
F.  Coomes,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  physiology,  and  clinical  lecturer 
on  ophthalmology  and  laryngology;  Clinton  W.  Kelly,  M.  D.,  C.  M., 
professor  of  anatomy  and  clinical  medicine;  Henry  Orendorf,  M.  D., 
professor  of  materia  niedica  and  therapeutics,  and  clinical  lecturer  on 
geuito-urinary,  venereal,  and  skin  diseases;  Joseph  M.  Mathews,  M.  D., 
professor  of  surgery,  and  clinical  lecturer  on  diseases  of  the  rectum ; 
James  M.  Holloway,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  surgery  and  clinical 
surgery;  Joseph  B.  Marvin,  B.  S.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  medicine  and  clini- 
cal medicine;  William  L.  Eodman,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  surgery 
and  clinical  surgery;  Carl  Weidner,  M.  D.,  associate  professor  of  medi- 
cine, and  director  in  the  laboratory  of  histology  and  pathology;  Louis 
Frank,  M.  D.,  professor  of  bacteriology,  and  director  in  the  laboratory 
of  bacteriology ;  W.  T.  St.  Clair,  A.  M.,  professor  of  medical  Latin; 
Harry  Gault  Brownell,  B.  S.,  professor  of  medical  physics;  David  W. 
Fairleigh,  B.  L.,  professor  of  medical  jurisprudence. 

The  faculty  also  contains  4  lecturers  on  special  subjects,  3  directors 
of  laboratories,  and  15  assistants  in  the  various  departments.  Dr. 
Watheu  was  for  many  years  its  dean,  but  was  succeeded  in  1895  by 
Dr.  Woody,  who  is  the  present  executive  officer  of  the  institution. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Collins's  Sketches 

Collins's,  Smith's,  and  Perriu,  Battle  and  Kniffen's  histories. 

Biographical  Encyclopedia  of  Kentucky. 

Peter's  Fayette  County. 

Reports  of  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction. 

Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education. 

Acts  of  the  Legislature. 

Home  and  School,  an  educational  inaga/ine  published  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  for  some 
time  after  1872. 

The  Biography  of  Elder  John  T.  Johnson,  by  John  Kogers,  Cincinnati,  1861. 

Minutes  of  a  Meeting  of  the  Friends  and  Donors  of  Bacon  College  at  Harrodsburg, 
Ky.,  May  6,  1857,  Harrodsburg,  1857. 


100  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

The  Statutes  aud  Laws  of  Kentucky  University,  Harrodsburg,  1858. 

Inaugural  Address  of  Robert  Milligan,  A.  M.,  as  president  of  Kentucky  University, 
Louisville,  1859. 

Annual  Report  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  Kentucky  University,  Cincinnati, 
1863. 

Charter,  Statutes,  and  Laws  of  Kentucky  University,  Lexington,  1866. 

Regulations  for  the  Government  of  the  Cadets  of  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical 
College,  Lexington,  1867. 

Report  of  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  to  the  Governor  of  Kentucky, 
by  J.  B.  Bowman,  Regent,  Frankfort,  1869. 

The  Annual  Report  of  the  Treasurer  of  Kentucky  University,  with  a  financial 
history  from  1855  to  1871,  Lexington,  1871. 

Report  of  the  Board  of  Visitors  of  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  of 
Kentucky,  Frankfort,  1873. 

A  Centennial  Exhibit  of  Education  in  Kentucky,  by  H.  A.  M.  Henderson,  Frank- 
fort, 1876. 

The  History  of  the  Ohio  Falls  Cities  and  their  Counties,  by  L.  A.  Williams  &  Co., 
2  vols.,  Cleveland,  1882. 

Newspaper  Sketch  of  the  Kentucky  School  of  Medicine,  by  Dr.  J.  A.  Onchterlony 
(date  uncertain). 

THE   AGRICULTURAL   AND   MECHANICAL    COLLEGE— LEXINGTON. 

The  foundation  of  this  institution,  ordinarily  called  the  State  Col- 
lege simply,  is  due  to  the  act  of  Congress  of  July  2,  1SG2,  which 
granted  to  each  State  of  the  Union  that  would  provide  colleges  for  the 
benefit  of  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts  a  donation  of  30,000  acres 
of  land  for  each  of  its  Kepresentatives  in  the  National  Legislature. 
Section  4  of  this  act  requires  that  the  leading  object  of  such  colleges — 

Shall  be,  without  excluding  other  scientific  and  classical  studies,  and  including 
military  tactics,  to  teach  such  branches  of  learning  as  are  related  to  agriculture  and 
the  mechanic  arts  in  such  manner  as  the  legislatures  of  the  States  may  respectively 
describe,  in  order  to  promote  the  liberal  and  practical  education  of  the  industrial 
classes  in  the  several  pursuits  and  professions  of  life. 

This  donation  amounted,  in  the  case  of  Kentucky,  to  330,000  acres 
of  land,  and  was  formally  accepted  by  the  State  legislature  on  January 
27,  1863.  The  act  provided,  however,  that  the  State  should  furnish  an 
experimental  farm,  proper  buildings,  and  a  suitable  equipment  other- 
wise for  the  new  college,  and  as  Kentucky  was  at  the  time,  owing  to 
the  civil  war,  in  quite  a  depressed  condition  financially,  some  difficulty 
was  experienced  in  getting  her  legislature  to  make  the  needed  direct 
appropriation  for  putting  the  institution  into  operation.  Proposals  for 
bids  for  its  location  were  arranged  for,  but  none  were  offered  during 
the  next  two  years  that  were  considered  sufficiently  advantageous  to 
be  accepted. 

It  is  probably  because  the  proposition  carried  with  it  no  experimental 
farm  that  the  excellent  proposal  of  the  trustees  of  Transylvania  Uni- 
versity to  make  the  property  and  funds  of  that  venerable  institution 
the  basis  for  the  new  one  was  not  taken  advantage  of.  The  buildings, 
grounds,  and  apparatus  of  the  university  at  that  time  were  estimated 


AGRICULTURAL  AND   MECHANICAL  COLLEGE   CF   KENTUCKY— MAIN    BUILDING. 


AGRICULTURAL  AND   MECHANICAL  COLLEGE   OF   KENTUCKY- E  XFERIMENT  STATION 

BUILDING. 


AGRICULTURAL    AND    MECHANICAL    COLLEGE.  101 

to  be  worth  $100,000  or  more,  while  its  endowment  was  about  $65,000 
in  bonds  and  $5,000  in  cash.  This  would  have  furnished  a  splendid 
foundation  for  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College,  one  for  which 
it  had  to  wait  years  afterwards  before  acquiring  in  its  own  right.  It 
was  this  difficulty  in  securing  the  proper  equipment,  besides  the  advan- 
tages of  the  offer  itself,  which  made  the  legislature  as  a  body,  in  Jan- 
uary, 1865,  quite  willing  to  turn  over  the  inauguration  of  the  enterprise 
to  Kentucky  University  upon  the  terms  then  proposed  by  Mr.  Bowman, 
its  founder. 

We  have  seen,  in  connection  with  the  history  of  that  institution, 
what  were  the  terms  of  that  offer  and  how  it  was  accepted  by  the  act 
of  February  22,  1865,  and  the  new  college  opened,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  university,  on  October  1,  1866,  a  loan  of  $20,000  having  been 
made  by  an  act  of  February  10,  1866,  in  order  to  put  it  into  immediate 
operation  without  depending  on  the  returns  from  the  sale  of  the  Gov- 
ernment land  scrip.  This  sale  was  authorized  by  an  act  of  February 
28,  1865, ]  and  occurred  some  time  after  that  date.  The  land  was  dis 
posed  of  for  50  cents  an  acre,  thus  realizing  a  fund  of  $165,000,  which 
was  invested  in  State  bonds,  bearing  6  per  cent  interest,  the  returns 
from  which  for  a  considerable  time  were  the  principal  income  of  the 
institution.  The  comparatively  small  amount  obtained  from  the  land 
endowment  caused  much  dissatisfaction  throughout  the  State,  espe- 
cially among  the  friends  of  Kentucky  University,  and  was,  as  has  been 
noted,  one  of  the  causes  operating  to  separate  the  college  from  the 
university.  If  any  are  to  be  specially  blamed  in  this  connection  they 
are  those,  both  within  and  withoat  the  denomination  controlling  the 
university,  who  by  their  clamors  for  the  early  inauguration  of  the  new 
college,  caused  those  in  whose  hands  the  matter  had  been  placed  to  be 
perhaps  rather  hasty  in  disposing  of  the  college  lands.  Kentucky  did 
quite  as  well  with  this  endowment  as  some  States  who  were  equally 
hasty  in  realizing  on  it,  although  other  States  handled  their  scrip  more 
judiciously  and  were  thus  able  to  obtain  much  more  from  it.  When 
the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  was  first  put  in  operation,  on 
the  splendid  estate  provided  for  it  by  Mr.  Bowman,  its  faculty  was 
constituted  as  follows:  John  Aug.  Williams,  presiding  officer  and  pro- 
fessor of  mental  and  moral  philosophy;  H.  H.  White,  professor  of 
mathematics  and  astronomy;  liobert  Peter,  professor  of  chemistry  and 
experimental  philosophy;  James  K.  Patterson,  professor  of  Latin, 
political  economy,  and  history;  Alexander  Wiuchell,  professor  of 
geology  and  natural  history;  Joseph  D.  Pickett,  professor  of  the  Eng- 
lish language  and  literature;  William  E.  Arnold,  professor  of  military 
tactics.  Besides  these  there  were  six  instructors,  a  farm  superintend- 
ent, and  two  stewards. 

The  original  course  of  instruction  in  the  institution  embraced  the 
ten  schools  of  philosophy,  English  language   and  literature,  mathe- 


Chapter  1174,  acts  of  1865. 


102  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

matics,  chemistry  and  experimental  philosophy,  natural  history,  his- 
tory, modern  languages,  civil  engineering  and  mining,  military  tactics, 
and  fine  arts.  In  addition  to  this,  practical  work  was  required  of  all 
students  for  two  hours  a  day  on  the  ornamental  grounds,  the  farm,  or 
in  the  mechanical  shops  after  these  had  been  established  in  1868.  a 
number  of  students  being  assisted  financially  by  being  paid  for  extra 
labor  on  the  farm. 

We  have  seen  that  the  college  was,  for  a  time,  quite  successful, 
having  as  many  as  300  students  in  1869-70;  but  the  connection  with 
Kentucky  University,  for  the  reasons  already  given,  soon  proved 
unsatisfactory  to  all  parties,  the  number  of  students  having,  in 
1877-78,  declined  to  78;  so,  by  an  act  of  March  13,  1878,  the  legis- 
lature, which  had  reserved  such  a  right  over  the  control  of  the  land- 
endowment  fund,  as  well  as  the  right  of  inspection  through,  a  board 
of  six  visitors  appointed  by  the  governor,  separated  the  college  from 
the  university,  the  act  to  take  effect  July  1,  1878,  from  which  date 
the  former  became  an  independent  institution.  The  college  up  to  this 
time  had  had  two  other  presiding  officers  besides  Professor  Williams, 
who  had  directed  it  the  first  year  and  largely  organized  its  course.  He 
had  been  succeeded  in  1867  by  Professor  Pickett,  and  he  in  1869  by 
Professor  Patterson.  It  had  sent  out  its  first  graduating  class  of  one 
member  in  1869,  and  had  had  altogether  during  this  period  of  its  his- 
tory 12  graduates. 

The  act  separating  the  institution  from  Kentucky  University,  which 
the  legislature  looked  upon  as  having  made  a  loyal  attempt  to  fulfill  its 
pledges  to  the  college,  but  had  failed,  owing  to  adverse  circumstances, 
appointed  for  the  latter  a  commission,  composed  of  the  lieutenant- 
governor  and  one  member  from  each  of  the  ten  Congressional  districts 
of  the  State,  whose  duties  were  threefold :  (1)  To  arrange  for  continuing 
the  operation  of  the  institution  until  the  next  session  of  the  legislature; 

(2)  to  decide  upon  its  permanent  location  at  that  place  in  the  State 
which  would,  all  things  considered,  offer  the  greatest  inducements; 

(3)  to  prepare  a  plan  for  its  reorganization  in  regard  to  departments  of 
instruction,  and  other  important  particulars. 

The  first  of  these  objects  was  accomplished  by  an  arrangement,  entered 
into  on  July  5,  1878,  between  the  commission  and  a  committee  of  the 
board  of  curators  of  Kentucky  University,  by  which  the  college  was  to 
still  occupy  its  former  grounds  and  buildings  until  July  1, 1880,  and  was 
to  have  the  use  of  100  acres  of  the  experimental  farm,  together  with  one 
acre  additional  for  every  student  it  had  over  100,  the  institutions  mean- 
while acting  in  harmony  as  previously  and  mutually  opening  their 
courses  to  each  other's  students.  The  board  of  visitors,  composed  of  six 
representative  public  men  to  whom  the  direct  management  of  the  insti- 
tution had  been  committed  for  the  next  two  years,  after  organizing  on 
July  12, 1878,  elected  a  new  faculty  of  seven  members,  composed  mainly, 
if  not  entirely,  of  members  of  the  former  faculty,  with  Prof.  J.  K.  Patter- 


AGRICULTURAL    AND    MECHANICAL    COLLEGE.  103 

sou,  who  had  been  at  tbe  head  of  the  institution  for  the  past  nine  years, 
as  its  president,  thus  putting  the  college  in  running  order  for  the  next 
two  years. 

In  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  Congressional  laud  grant,  the  com- 
mission made  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts,  as  also  military  tactics, 
obligatory  in  the  course  of  instruction,  but,  in  regard  to  other  depart- 
ments a  wide  discretion  was  given  to  the  trustees  of  the  college.  An 
advanced  course  in  agricultural  chemistry  and  other  subjects  were  at 
once  added  to  the  curriculum,  which,  according  to  the  recommendations 
made,  was  to  be  wide  in  scope  and  to  be  conducted  on  a  university  and 
not  simply  a  college  basis.  The  putting  of  the  institution  on  this  basis 
was  not,  however,  to  be  hurried,  but  was  to  be  carried  out  as  its  means 
would  permit.  Kentucky  University  had  for  several  years  been  unable, 
by  reason  of  financial  embarrassment,  to  carry  out  the  intention  of  Con- 
gress in  regard  to  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts,  as  its  experimental 
farm  had  been  used  only  to  aid  students  and  its  expensive  machine 
shops  had  for  some  time  been  closed.  The  college  only  attempted  to 
give  the  scientific  basis  of  instruction  in  these  departments,  waiting 
for  greater  resources  before  instituting  practical  operations. 

After  having  made  these  preliminary  arrangements  the  commission, 
in  accordance  with  its  instructions,  had  advertised  for  bids  for  the  per- 
manent location  of  the  college  to  be  reported  to  the  next  session  of  the 
legislature,  and  at  a  meeting  on  August  14, 1879,  recommended  that  of 
Lexington  and  Fayette  County  as  offering  the  best  and  greatest  induce- 
ments. Lexington,  in  order  to  secure  the  location  of  the  institution 
permanently  in  its  midst,  proposed  to  give  the  city  park  of  52  acres, 
lying  within  the  limits  of  the  city  and  valued  at  $250,000,  as  a  site  and 
$30,000  in  bonds  for  building  purposes,  which  was  to  be  supplemented 
by  $20,000  in  bonds  given  for  buildings  or  land  by  Fayette  County.1 
This  offer  was  accepted,  and  the  college  so  located  by  an  act  of  the  leg- 
islature approved  February  6,  1880.2 

Meanwhile  the  institution  had  made  a  fair  start  toward  its  future 
prosperity.  Its  Irst  session  under  the  new  auspices  was  opened  on 
September  7,  1878,  and  during  the  year  118  students  were  in  attend- 
ance, an  advance  of  50  per  cent  over  the  previous  year's  attendance. 
The  college  also  closed  the  year  with  some  cash  in  the  treasury,  although 
its  agricultural  produce  for  the  year  had  not  been  realized  on  and  con- 
siderable had  been  paid  out  for  student  labor.  During  its  second  year 
its  attendance  reached  137. 

By  a  legislative  act  of  March  4,  1880,3  the  institution  was  granted  a 
liberal  charter,  conferring. upon  it  full  collegiate  powers,  and  putting  it 
under  direct  State  control,  by  having  its  management  committed  to  a 


1  The  donation  of  Lexington  was  authorized  by  a  legislative  act  approved  January 
31, 1880  (chapter  49,  acts  of  1880),  and  that  of  Fayette  County  by  an  act  approved 
January  24, 1880  (acts  of  1880,  chapter  71). 

-Chapter  157,  acts  of  1880. 

:!  Chapter  359,  acts  of  1880. 


104  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

body  of  twelve  trustees,  appointed  by  the  governor  and  confirmed  by 
the  senate  every  four  years,  with  the  governor  as  an  additional  ex 
officio  member.  A  clause  provided  for  the  addition  of  four  other  members 
elected  by  the  alumni  of  the  college  from  among  themselves  whenever 
their  number  should  reach  100.  This  last  provision  was  abrogated  by 
an  act  of  May  9, 1893,  which  placed  the  control  of  the  institution  in  the 
hands  of  fifteen  trustees,  one-third  of  them  appointed  every  two  years 
by  the  governor,  who,  with  the  president  of  the  college,  is  also  an  ex 
officio  member. 

The  original  charter  provided  free  tuition  for  4  students  from  each 
of  the  100  legislative  districts  of  the  State.  An  amendment  of  April 
23,  1880,'  did  a  great  service  to  the  cause  of  public  education  in  the 
State  by  establishing  a  normal  department  which,  as  declared  by  section 
7  of  the  act,  is  " designed  more  particularly,  but  not  exclusively,  to 
qualify  teachers  for  common  and  other  schools,"  and  was  also  to  furnish 
free  tuition  to  4  students  from  each  legislative  district  who  are  pre- 
paring themselves  for  teaching.  To  further  increase  and  make  efficient 
the  endowment  of  the  institution,  an  additional  amendment  of  April 
29,  1880,2  imposed  a  regular  tax  of  one-half  cent  on  each  $100  of  the 
property  of  the  white  citizens  of  the  State,  thus  making  a  very  material 
and  much  needed  addition  to  the  scant  income  derived  from  the  land- 
scrip  fund.  This  tax  yielded  in  1880,  the  first  year  it  was  levied,  about 
$17,000  and  now  furnishes  an  income  of  about  $33,000  a  year. 

The  history  of  the  college  from  the  time  of  its  permanent  location, 
when  it  received  its  endowment  from  Lexington  and  had  the  income 
from  a  State  tax  added  to  its  former  revenue. of  about  $10,000  a  year, 
has  been  one  of  constant  and  regular  growth  and  expansion,  which 
have  been  further  extended  by  the  increased  income  derived  from  the 
Hatch  bill  of  1887  and  the  Morrill  bill  of  1890. 

In  1880  its  faculty  was  enlarged  and  its  course  of  instruction  extended. 
Its  faculty  as  then  constituted  was  composed  as  follows:  James  K. 
Patterson,  president  and  professor  of  history  and  metaphysics;  Robert 
Peter,  professor  of  chemistry  and  experimental  philosophy;  John  H. 
Neville,  professor  of  Latin  and  Greek;  John  Shackleford,  professor  of 
English;  J.  G.  White,  professor  of  mathematics  and  astronomy;  A.  B. 
Oraudall,  professor  of  natural  history  and  mechanics;  Ii.  J.  Howell, 
U.  S.  A.,  professor  of  civil  engineering  and  military  science;  F.  M. 
Helveti,  professor  of  French  and  German;  W.  A.  Kellerman,  professor 
of  agriculture,  horticulture,  and  economic  botany;  Maurice  Kirby, 
principal  of  the  normal  school;  T.  C.  H.  Yance,  principal  of  the  com- 
mercial department;  W.  K.  Patterson,  principal  of  the  preparatory 
department;  A.  M.  Peter,  adjunct  professor  of  chemistry  and  natural 
history;  John  Patterson,  assistant  professor  of  Latin;  David  A.King, 


'Chap.  1094,  acts  of  1880.  Under  this  act.  as  female  teachers  were  admitted  as 
well  as  male  teachers,  the  institution  became  coeducational  and  has  since  so  remained 
in  all  departments. 

2  Chap.  1315,  acts  of  1880. 


AGRICULTURAL    AND    MECHANICAL    COLLEGE.  105 

instructor  in  practical  mechanics;  J.  L.  McClellan  and  M.  L.  Pence, 
assistants  in  the  preparatory  department. 

The  course  of  instruction  as  laid  down  in  the  regulations  of  the 
board  of  trustees,  adopted  in  final  form  on  June  30,  1882,  was  divided 
into  twenty-one  departments,  besides  a  preparatory  department,  all 
of  which,  except  those  relating  to  commercial  education,  are  included  in 
the  present  curriculum  of  the  college,  with  its  fifteen  departments, 
which  will  be  enumerated  later.1  Instruction  in  bookkeeping,  commer- 
cial law,  and  phonography  were  originally  included  in  the  regular  cur- 
riculum, but  in  1889  an  arrangement  was  made  by  an  association  with 
Orcutt's  Short  Hand  and  Commercial  Institute  to  furnish  college 
students  desiring  it  free  instruction  in  these  departments  in  that 
institution.  A  similar  arrangement,  which  continued  until  quite 
recently,  was  later  made  with  Lexington  Business  College;  but  com- 
mercial education  is  now  looked  upon  by  the  institution  as  professional, 
and  is  not  made  a  part  of  its  curriculum. 

When  the  agreement  made  by  the  commission  of  1878  and  Kentucky 
University  expired  on  July  1,  1880,  the  college,  seeing  its  new  quarters 
could  not  be  prepared  for  it  for  some  time,  rented  its  former  buildings 
and  grounds  from  the  university  and  continued  in  its  old  location  for 
nearly  two  years  longer.  The  corner  stone  of  a  fine  new  main  building, 
constructed  of  brick  with  stone  trimmings,  with  accommodations  for 
600  students  in  the  way  of  chapel,  lecture  rooms,  etc.,  was  laid  with 
appropriate  ceremonies  on  October  28,  1880.  This  building  was  com- 
pleted and  occupied  as  a  new  home  for  the  institution  on  February  15, 
1882.  About  the  same  time  a  brick  residence  for  the  president  and  a 
brick  dormitory,  with  accommodations  for  90  students,  were  erected. 
Meanwhile  the  matriculation  continued  to  increase,  there  being  234 
students  in  attendance  in  1880-81. 

The  work  of  the  college  in  its  -new  home  soon  began  to  show  that 
expansion  which  has  since  been  characteristic  of  it.  In  the  latter  part 
of  1885  the  first  important  step  in  realizing  the  special  aims  of  the 
institution  was  taken  by  the  organization  of  the  agricultural  experi- 
ment station.  Prof.  M.  A.  Scovell,  its  present  efficient  director,  was 
then  placed  at  its  head,  and  in  1886  the  station  began  work  as  a  State 
enterprise,  it  having  been  reorganized  and  named  the  Kentucky  Exper- 
iment Station  by  the  legislature  in  that  year.  Its  twofold  work  of 
making  experiments  in  scientific  agriculture  and  making  their  results 
known  to  those  interested  by  the  publication  of  frequent  bulletins  was 
able  to  be  still  further  increased  and  enlarged  by  the  passage  by  Con- 
gress, on  March  2,  1887,  of  what  is  ordinarily  known  as  the  Hatch  bill, 
from  its  author,  which  appropriates  annually  $  15,000  to  similar  stations 
in  each  State  throughout  the  country.  The  board  of  control  of  the 

1  The  degree  courses  provided  in  1880  were  a  classical  and  a  scientific  course  of  four 
years  each,  leading  to  the  degrees  of  A.  B.  and  B.  S.,  with  A.  M.  and  M.  S.  conferred 
after  an  additional  year's  study.  There  was  also  a  general  course  of  four  years  not 
leading  to  a  degree. 


106  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

Kentucky  station,  as  at  present  organized,  is  composed  of  three  of  the 
college  trustees,  together  with  the  president  of  the  college  and  the 
director  of  the  station  as  ex-officio  members.  The  provisions  of  the 
Hatch  bill  were  accepted  by  the  legislature  on  February  20,  1888, ]  and 
an  experimental  farm  of  48J  acres,  situated  near  the  college  campus, 
was  soon  purchased  and  equipped  with  suitable  buildings.  The  chief 
building  for  the  station  is  located  on  the  campus.  It  is  a  handsome 
and  well-planned  structure,  costing,  with  its  equipment,  about  $20,000, 
and  was  completed  in  August,  1889.  All  commercial  fertilizers  sold  in 
the  State  are  required  by  State  law  to  be  analyzed  and  inspected  by 
the  station.  This  so  far  has  been  a  means  of  some  income,  besides  fur- 
nishing valuable  information  to  the  agricultural  community.  The  staff 
of  the  station  contains,  in  addition  to  the  director,  two  chemists,  an 
entomologist  and  botanist,  a  horticulturist,  a  meteorologist,  a  superin- 
tendent of  field  experiments,  and  a  dairyman. 

The  development  of  the  other  leading  object  for  which  the  college 
was  established  has  had  a  similar,  although  somewhat  more  recent, 
history.  A  course  in  practical  mechanics  was  first  offered  in  1889,  but 
no  regular  mechanical  department  was  organized  until  two  years  later. 
Meanwhile  the  revenue  of  the  institution  and  its  ability  to  carry  out 
its  purposes  in  this  direction  were  materially  increased  by  what  is  com- 
monly known  as  the  Morrill  bill,  of  June  23,  1890,  which  granted  to 
each  of  the  agricultural  and  mechanical  colleges  in  the  different  States 
an  appropriation  of  $15,000  for  the  year  1890,  which  was  to  be 
increased  each  year  by  $1,000  until  it  reached  $25,000  annually.  A 
regular  department  of  mechanical  engineering  was  organized  in  the 
Kentucky  State  College  in  June,  1891,  when  the  chair  of  mechanical 
engineering  was  established  and  the  professor  appointed.  A  new 
mechanical  building  was  soon  begun  and  was  completed  and  occupied 
in  January,  1892.  It  is  commodious  and  specially  well  adapted  to  its 
purposes  and  has  an  equipment  second  to  none  south  of  the  Ohio 
Kiver,  the  estimated  value  of  the  building  and  apparatus  being  about 
$60,000.  The  building  contains,  besides  three  recitation  rooms  and 
three  offices,  two  drawing  rooms,  a  wood  pattern  shop,  two  boiler 
rooms,  a  wash  room,  a  tool  room,  an  engine  room,  two  machine  shops — 
one  for  working  wood,  the  other  metal — a  foundry,  a  blacksmith  shop, 
and  two  large  rooms  devoted  to  experimental  engineering. 

The  addition  of  the  normal  school  in  1880  and  the  recent  enlargement 
of  the  means  of  instruction  in  the  special  departments  of  the  college,  to 
which  we  have  just  been  referring,  have  led  to  a  corresponding  expan- 
sion in  its  courses  of  study,  courses  in  pedagogy,  in  agriculture,  in 
civil  engineering,  and  in  mechanical  engineering,  having  been  added  to 
those  already  in  operation,  so  as  to  make  the  present  curriculum  quite 
broad  in  scope  as  well  as  special  in  character.  The  former  scientific 
course  has  recently  been  subdivided  into  mathematical,  biological,  and 


Chapter  208,  acts  of  1888. 


AGRICULTURAL  AND  MECHANICAL  COLLEGE.       107 

chemical  courses,  all  scientific  in  character,  but  each  emphasizing  espe- 
cially the  science  indicated  by  its  name.  The  equipment  of  the  depart- 
ments of  biology,  physiology,  geology,  botany,  chemistry,  and  physics 
has  become  quite  complete  for  work  and  illustration,  the  apparatus  of 
those  departments  being  estimated  to  be  worth  something  over  $20,000. 

The  facilities  for  instruction  in  these  departments  were  largely 
improved  in  1897  by  the  erection  of  a  new  natural  science  building. 
This  is  a  three-story  brick  structure  and  is  modern  in  all  its  appoint- 
ments, costing,  with  its  electric-lighting  and  steam-heating  apparatus, 
$20,000.  The  entire  third  floor  of  this  building  is  given  up  to  the  proper 
display  of  a  recent  valuable  acquisition  to  the  scientific  apparatus  of 
the  college,  consisting  of  the  collection  of  minerals  and  other  products 
of  the  State,  collected  by  the  State  geological  survey  and  for  many 
years  deposited  in  the  capitol  at  Frankfort.  This  collection  is  now  in 
charge  of  the  State  inspector  of  mines,  who  by  an  act  of  the  legislature 
of  1898  was  attached  to  the  staff  of  the  State  college  and  had  his  office 
and  the  geological  collection  moved  to  Lexington.  This  collection  will 
constitute  a  valuable  scientific  museum  for  the  future. 

The  libraries  of  the  different  departments  of  the  college,  especially 
the  scientific  departments,  have  of  late  been  considerably  enlarged  and 
now  contain  the  standard  authorities  needed  for  reference  in  each  case. 
The  plan  of  having  special  libraries  has  been  adopted  rather  than 
having  one  large  general  collection. 

The  approximate  value  of  the  entire  college  property  is  $475,000. 
The  income  of  the  institution,  including  the  experiment  station,  is 
about  $80,000  annually.  The  following  is  an  exhibit  of  the  revenue 
between  July  1,  1896,  and  July  1,  1897: 

College  proper: 

State  taxes $32,  429.  32 

Federal  fund  of  1890 18,810.00 

Students'  fees 1,  428.  57 

From  other  sources 498.  91 


Total . .  53. 166.  80 


Experiment  station : 

Federal  fund  of  1887 $15,000.00 

Fertilizers 3,  240. 00 

Farm 1,  280. 43 

Other  sources . .  132.  70 


Total 19,  653. 13 

To  the  colloge  income,  besides  the  above  items,  is  to  be  added  $8.404.50 
annually  coming  from  its  share  of  the  Federal  fund  of  1862,  from  which 
no  revenue  is  given  above,  because  the  former  State  bonds  had  expired 
in  189G  and  no  new  revenue  was  derived  from  this  source  until  Septem- 
ber, 1897,  on  new  bonds  issued  by  the  legislature  of  1890.1  The  Federal 


1  The  legislature  of  this  year  gave  to  the  State  Normal  School  at  Frankfort  its 
share,  14 1-  per  cent,  of  the  Federal  fund  of  1862,  which  made  the  share  of  the  State 
college  $141,075,  which  bears  6  per  cent  interest  annually. 


108  HISTORY    OF   HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

fund  of  1890  also  increases  $1,000  each  year  until  tbe  year  1900,  85£ 
per  cent  of  which  will  go  to  this  institution. 

The  course  of  instruction  in  the  college  as  at  present  constituted  is 
composed  of  the  following  departments :  History,  political  economy,  and 
metaphysics;  botany,  horticulture,  and  agriculture;  the  English  lan- 
guages and  literature;  military  science;  'chemistry;  mathematics  and 
astronomy;  modern  languages;  Greek  and  Latin;  pedagogy,  or  the 
normal  school;  civil  engineering;  mechanical  engineering;  anatomy 
and  physiology;  geology,  zoology,  and  physics. 

The  college  offers  six  degree  courses  of  four  years  each,  leading 
respectively  to  the  degrees  of  bachelor  of  science,  bachelor  of  arts, 
bachelor  of  agriculture,  bachelor  of  civil  engineering,  bachelor  of 
mechanical  engineering,  and  bachelor  of  pedagogy.  The  degree  of 
master  is  also  conferred  in  the  first  five  of  these  departments,  upon  an 
additional  year's  regular  study  and  the  presentation  of  an  acceptable 
thesis  in  tbe  principal  department  of  study.  In  certain  departments 
special  courses,  not  leading  to  a  degree,  are  arranged  to  suit  the  needs 
of  a  particular  class  of  students.  In  agriculture  a  short  course  has 
been  lately  inaugurated  for  scientific  instruction  in  the  most  practical 
part  of  agriculture,  which  may  be  attended  by  farmers  during  their 
leisure  season.  In  pedagogy,  besides  the  regular  degree  course,  there  are 
special  State-diploma,  State-ceHifieate,  and  county-certificate  courses, 
designed  to  meet  the  needs  of  certain  classes  of  teachers,  especially 
in  the  State  public  schools.  In  the  course  in  mechanical  engineering 
a  choice  of  one  of  three  lines  of  work — mechanical  engineering  proper, 
chemical  engineering,  or  electrical  engineering — is  allowed  in  the  last 
two  years  of  the  course. 

The  academy  courses  are  preparatory  to  those  of  the  college  and  are 
two  years  in  length.  There  are  two  of  them — the  scientific,  agricul- 
tural, and  engineering  course  and  the  classical  and  normal  course. 
Tlie  college  has  recently  arranged  for  a  more  general  preparation  of  its 
students  throughout  the  State  by  the  recognition  of  a  number  of  private 
and  public  high  schools  as  accredited  schools,  whose  courses  are  coordi- 
nated with  those  of  the  college,  and  whose  students  are  received  upon 
certificate  into  certain  classes  of  the  institution. 

The  matriculation  of  the  college  has  in  a  general  way  kept  pace  with 
expansion  in  other  ways.  Within  five  years  after  the  occupancy  of  the 
new  building  its  students  had  risen  in  number  to  309,  and  for  the  past 
five  years  they  have  averaged  390,  of  whom  an  average  of  about  90  have 
been  in  the  normal  school  and  about  100  in  the  academy.  There  were 
in  1897-98  432  students  in  all  departments.  The  general  financial 
depression  has  not,  as  in  many  other  institutions,  decreased  the  attend- 
ance, which  has  kept  up  well,  and  in  the  numbers  in  the  college  classes 
especially  has  shown  a  marked  enlargement,  the  average  in  these  for 
the  past  two  years  being  about  100  more  than  in  the  three  years 
previous. 


AGRICULTURAL  AND  MECHANICAL  COLLEGE.       109 

The  accommodations  for  students  were  materially  increased  about 
1890  by  the  addition  of  a  new  dormitory  with  rooms  for  ,30  students. 
The  legislative  act  of  May  0,  1893,  in  addition  to  changing  the  plan  of 
managing  the  institution,  as  already  noted,  made  the  appointments  of 
beneficiary  pupils  in  the  normal  school  four  from  each  county  of  the 
State,  instead  of  each  legislative  district,  as  before,  and  besides  furnish- 
ing free  tuition  to  all  beneficiary  students,  grants  them  free  traveling 
expenses  to  and  from  Lexington  to  their  homes  after  they  have  honor 
ably  sustained  themselves  for  one  year  as  matriculates.  In  order  to 
bring  the  benefits  of  the  college  within  the  reach  of  as  many  as  possi- 
ble, the  tuition  fees  for  other  students  are  made  very  moderate  and  a 
number  of  poor  students  are  given  work  on  the  college  farm  lor  several 
hours  each  day,  for  which  they  are  paid  from  G  to  10  cents  an  hour. 

The  college  has  had  an  average  of  about  19  graduates  each  year  for 
the  past  five  years,  and  its  total  alumni  in  all  of  its  regular  courses  to 
1898,  inclusive,  are  190.  Several  of  these  are  members  of  its  present 
faculty  and  others  occupy  important  positions  in  teaching  and  other 
professions.  Among  them  may  be  mentioned  particularly  T.  V.  Munson, 
of  Texas,  who  is  considered  the  highest  authority  in  the  United  States 
on  the  subject  of  vine  culture.  In  recognition  of  his  services  in  intro- 
ducing the  American  stocks  upon  which  to  graft  the  French  vines,  he 
received  from  the  Government  of  France  the  decoration  of  the  Legion 
of  Honor. 

The  faculty  of  the  institution,  including  the  nine  instructors  in  the 
various  departments,  is  at  present  composed  of  twenty-four  members, 
nearly  four  times  as  many  as  at  the  time  of  the  reorganization  in  1878. 
The  regular  professors,  with  their  chairs,  are  as  follows :  James  Kennedy 
Patterson,  Ph.  D.,  LL.  D.,  F.  S.  A.,  president,  professor  of  history, 
political  economy,  and  metaphysics;  John  Shackleford,  A.  M.,  vice- 
president,  professor  of  English  and  logic;  James  Garrard  White,  A.  M., 
professor  of  mathematics  and  astronomy;  John  Henry  Neville,  A.  M., 
professor  of  Greek  and  Latin;  Walter  Kennedy  Patterson,  A.  M.,  prin- 
cipal of  the  academy ;  Joseph  Hoeing  Kastle,  Ph.  D.,  professor  of  chem- 
istry; Ruric  Neville  Eoark,  Ph.  D.,  principal  of  the  normal  school; 
Joseph  William  Pryor,  M.  D.,  professor  of  anatomy  and  physiology; 
Frederic  Paul  Anderson,  M.  E.,  professor  of  mechanical  engineering; 
James  Poyntz  Nelson,  C.  E.,  M.  E.,  professor  of  civil  engineering; 
Clarence  Wentworth  Mathews,  B.  S.,  professor  of  botany,  horticulture, 
and  agriculture;  Arthur  McQuiston  Miller,  A.  M.,  professor  of  geology 
and  zoology;  Merry  Lewis  Pence,  M.  S.,  professor  of  physics;  Samuel 
Miller  Swigert,  captain  Second  Cavalry,  U.  S.  A.,  commandant  and 
professor  of  military  science;  Paul  Wernicke,  professor  of  modern 
languages. 

Two  venerable  and  able  members  of  the  faculty  died  in  1894,  Dr. 
Robert  Peter  and  Prof.  F.  M.  Helveti.  Dr.  Peter,  of  whom  mention 
has  been  made  elsewhere,  had  had  a  distinguished  career  and  was 


110  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

noted  for  his  high  character  and  eminent  worth.  He  had  entered  the 
faculty  of  the  college  in  1878  and  had  retired  from  the  active  duties  of 
his  professorship  in  1887,  on  account  of  the  infirmities  of  age.  Profes- 
sor Melveti  had  been  professor  of  modern  languages  in  the  institution 
from  1869  until  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was  universally  respected 
and  was  an  accomplished  and  faithful  teacher. 

The  career  of  steady  and  uniform  prosperity  which  the  State  College 
of  Kentucky  has  experienced  since  1878  has  been  due  in  large  measure 
to  the  able  and  energetic  management  of  President  Patterson,  who  has 
been  at  its  head  almost  from  its  incipiency.  In  his  hands  it  is  proba- 
ble, as  much  of  tiu>  work  of  the  institution  is  already  on  a  university 
basis,  that  it  will  become  before  long  a  university  in  name  as  well  as  in 
fact. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Report  of  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  for  1878-79,  Frankfort,  1879. 

Biennial  Report  of  the  Board  of  Visitors  for  1878-1880,  Frankfort,  1880. 

An  address  before  the  Commission  on  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  by 
J.  K.  Patterson,  Ph.  I).,  Frankfort,  1882. 

Regulations  of  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  adopted  June,  1882, 
Frankfort,  1882. 

Peter's  History  of  Fayette  County. 

Legislation,  Federal  and  State,  in  relation  to  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical 
College  of  Kentucky  and  Regulations  Governing  the  same,  compiled  by  George  B. 
Kiukead,  Lexington,  1890. 

Biennial  Reports  of  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

Reports  of  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction. 

Acts  of  the  State  legislature. 

CENTRE  COLLEGE,  DANVILLE. 

Centre  College  has  had  a  continuous  history  under  its  present  title 
since  1819,  and  is  therefore  the  oldest  college  in  Kentucky  with  a  con- 
tinuous name  and  corporate  existence.  It  dates  back  in  conception 
even  to  the  beginnings  of  Transylvania  Seminary,  with  which  institu- 
tion its  continuity  appears,  in  a  sense,  in  the  fact  that  Governor  Isaac 
Shelby,  the  president  of  its  first  board  of  trustees,  was  also  a  member 
of  the  Transylvania  Seminary  board  of  1783.  It  may,  however,  be 
looked  upon  as  the  more  direct  successor  of  Kentucky  Academy,  for 
it  was  founded  by  the  same  religious  denomination,  and  the  reasons 
for  its  establishment — dissatisfaction  with  the  religious  status  of  Tran- 
sylvania University  and  the  plan  of  its  management — were  practically 
identical  with  those  that  operated  in  separating  Kentucky  Academy 
from  Transylvania  Seminary.  That  this  succession  was  felt  explicitly 
by  its  founders  is  shown  by  the  effort  made  by  them  to  secure  the 
return  of  the  Kentucky  Academy  endowment  from  Transylvania  Uni- 
versity. 

The  Presbyterian  members  of  the  Transylvania  University  board  of 
trustees  had  already  become  acquainted  with  Dr.  Holley's  religious 


CENTRE    COLLEGE.  Ill 

opinions  even  prior  to  his  final  election  as  president  of  the  university 
ia  November,  1817,  at  which  time  a  number  of  them  had  resigned,  while 
others  retired  soon  afterwards  or  were  removed  from  the  board  by 
the  reorganization  of  February,  1818.  These  and  other  members  of 
the  denomination,  fearful  of  what  they  considered  the  irreligious  influ- 
ences then  surrounding  the  university,  especially  those  emanating  from 
Dr.  Holley's  ideas,  resolved  to  have  an  institution  of  their  own  whose 
religious  atmosphere  would  be  what  they  desired,  and  where  the  young- 
men  of  the  church  who  were  preparing  for  the  work  of  the  ministry 
might  be  educated  free  from  contaminating  influences. 

Accordingly,  in  October,  1818,  under  the  leadership  largely,  it  seems, 
of  Rev.  Samuel  K.  Nelson,  who  may  be  called,  before  any  other  one 
man,  the  founder  of  the  college,  steps  were  taken  by  the  synod  of  Ken- 
tucky looking  toward  the  organization  of  the  new  institution.  The 
legislature  of  the  Stale  was  soon  petitioned  for  a  charter  for  the  enter- 
prise, but,  although  this  was  granted,  it  was  refused — Davidson  thinks 
mainly  because  of  the  influence  of  Transylvania  University,  which  did 
not  want  competition — to  the  church  upon  the  terms  they  desired.  This 
charter,  which  bears  the  date  of  January  21, 1819. J  located  the  institu- 
tion under  its  present  name  "in  or  near  the  town  of  Danville,"  granted 
to  it  the  funds  of  Danville  Academy,  and  placed  it  under  the  control 
of  a  self-perpetuating  board  of  nineteen  trustees,  largely  composed  of 
prominent  public  men  of  that  portion  of  the  State,  with  ex-Governor 
Shelby  as  their  chairman.  Instead  of  placing  it  under  the  management 
of  their  synod,  as  the  Presbyterians  wished,  the  legislature,  on  the 
ground,  it  seems,  that  such  action  would  be,  in  effect,  uniting  church 
and  state,  made  it  in  organization  a  State  institution,  and,  instead  of 
the  charter  making  provision  for  religious  or  theological  instruction, 
section  4  explicitly  declares  that  "no  religious  doctrines  peculiar  to 
any  one  sect  of  Christians  shall  be  inculcated  by  any  professor  in  said 
college." 

A  committee  of  canvassers  had  been  appointed  by  the  synod  at  the 
time  that  body  petitioned  for  the  charter,  and  a  considerable  endowment 
hud  been  raised  for  the  new  college,  but  the  Presbyterians  refused  to 
endow  it  under  the  conditions  imposed,  these  funds,  for  the  present, 
being  held  subject  to  the  orders  of  the  synod,  and  so  the  institution 
went  intooperation  under  a  board  of  trustees  which  was  not  exclusively 
Presbyterian  and  many  of  whose  members  were  only  interested  in  the 
matter  as  a  general  educational  enterprise.  Presbyterian  influence 

'Acts  of  1818-19,  pp.  618-621.  The  trustees  named  in  the  act  were  Isaac  Shelby, 
John  Boyle,  William  Owsley,  Thomas  Montgomery,  Samuel  M'Kee,  William  Craig, 
Thomas  Cleland,  Barnabas  McHenry,  Samuel  K.  Nelson,  Nathan  H.  Hall,  Joshua 
Fry,  James  Biruey,  Joshua  Barbee,  James  Barbour,  Daniel  G.  Cowan,  John  Bowman, 
Ephraim  McDowell,  Jeremiah  Briscoe,  and  Jeremiah  Fisher.  In  locating  the  insti- 
tution in  Danville  the  act  was  again  following  in  the  steps  of  Transylvania  Semi- 
nary, but  there  has  never  been  any  occasion  to  remove  the  college  for  lack  of  local 
support,  as  was  the  case  with  the  seminary. 


112  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

seems,  however,  to  have  been  predominant  in  its  affairs  from  the  start, 
through  the  prominence  of  members  of  that  church  in  its  councils,  and 
the  denomination  had  a  moral,  if  not  a  legal,  control  of  the  institution 
in  this  way. 

Soon  after  the  charter  was  obtained  the  trustees,  through  their  chair- 
man, in  order  to  disarm  opposition,  especially  that  of  Transylvania 
University,  issued  an  address1  to  the  public  in  which  it  was  declared 
that  the  college  would  not  inculcate  any  denominational  tenets,  that 
its  main  intention  "was  to  supplement  the  work  of  the  declining 
academies,"  and  that  its  object  was  not  to  injure  the  university,  but 
rather  to  aid  it  by  a  generous  rivalry. 

Immediately  after  the  charter  was  secured  in  1819  a  modest  build- 
ing was  erected  in  Danville,  mainly  from  local  contributions,  and  in 
18'JO  Rev.  James  McOhord  was  chosen  as  the  first  president  of  the  new 
college.  He,  however,  never  served  in  that  capacity,  having  died  the 
year  of  his  election  after  he  had  probably  declined  the  proffered  honor. 
Eev.  Samuel  Fiuley  was  then  temporary  president  for  two  years,  during 
which,  by  an  act  of  December  18,  1821, 2  which  shows  the  institution 
was  looked  upon  at  that  time  as  to  some  extent  a  State  enterprise,  the 
legislature  aided  the  struggling  undertaking  by  giving  to  it,  for  two 
years,  one-third  the  profits  of  the  branch  Bank  of  the  Commonwealth 
at  Harrodsburg,  to  be  used  for  purchasing  a  library  and  a  scientific 
apparatus.  The  amount  secured  from  this  source  appears  to  have  been 
about  $6,000,  which  at  the  time  must  have  been  quite  a  help  to  the  new 
school,  although,  as  we  shall  see,  it  was  not  permanently  retained. 

On  July  23, 1822,  Rev.  Jeremiah  Chamberlain, D.D.,3  became  the  first 
regular  president  of  the  college.  Dr.  Chamberlain  was  a  man  of  learn- 
ing, ability,  and  piety,  and  by  the  vigorous  cooperation  of  several 
philanthropic  individuals  brought  the  institution  out  of  its  incipient 
state,  placing  it  on  a  firm  basis  and  filling  its  halls  with  students.  The 
professors  who  assisted  Dr.  Chamberlain  at  the  opening  of  his  admin- 
istration were  John  Dailey,  professor  of  mathematics,  and  Redmond 
Dougherty,  professor  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages.  During  this 
administration,  the  first  graduating  class  was  sent  out  by  the  institu- 
tion in  1824,  one  of  the  two  graduates  being  L.  W.  Green,  afterwards 
prominently  connected  with  the  history  of  his  alma  mater. 


1  The  substance  of  this  address  is  given  by  Professor  Chenault  in  Smith's  History 
of  Kentucky,  p.  704. 

-This  was  part  of  the  act  which  established  the  first  public-school  fund  of  Ken- 
tucky. 

3  A  sketch  of  Dr.  Chamberlain  is  to  be  found  in  Sprague's  Annals,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  591- 
592,  and  also  in  the  general  catalogue  of  Centre  College  for  1890,  p.  5.  In  the  latter 
account  it  is  said  he  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1794,  graduated  at  Dickinson  College 
in  that  State  in  1814,  and  at  Princeton  Seminary,  New  Jersey,  in  1817.  He  was  then 
engaged  in  the  active  work  of  the  ministry  until  he  became  the  president  of  Centre. 
He  is  described  as  "a  man  of  marked  ability,  of  strong  intellectual  power,  of  great 
public  spirit."  Various  dates  are  given  in  different  accounts  as  the  beginning  and 
end  of  his  administration  at  Centre,  but  those  given  in  the  text  seein  best  verified. 


CENTRE    COLLEGE.  113 

President  Chamberlain  resigned  on  September  26, 1826,  to  become  the 
president  of  Jackson  College,  Louisiana.  He  was  later  instrumental  iu 
founding  Oakland  College,  Mississippi.  While  at  Centre  be  did  much 
toward  giving  that  institution  an  impetus  toward  its  future  career. 
He  and  Eev.  Thomas  Cleland  were  largely  instrumental  in  obtaining 
the  new  charter  of  1824,  of  which  mention  will  now  be  made. 

In  October,  1823,  the  synod  of  Kentucky,  which  was  thoroughly 
aroused,  as  Davidson1  tells  us,  by  the  theological  views  expressed  by 
Dr.  Holley,  in  the  previous  April,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  funeral  of  Col. 
James  Morrison,  the  benefactor  of  Transylvania  University,  determined 
to  establish  without  delay  such  an  institution  as  they  desired,  where 
what  they  considered  proper  Biblical  instruction  could  be  given.  They 
appointed  nine  trustees,  who  were  empowered  to  confer,  at  the  end  of 
the  month,  with  the  trustees  of  Centre  College,  with  a  view  to  its 
reorganization  on  a  new  basis,  with  or  without  a  charter.  The  desired 
arrangement  was  harmoniously  made  and  a  charter  applied  for,  which 
was  finally  obtained,  the  bill  being  carried  through  the  lower  house  of 
the  legislature,  as  related  by  Davidson,2  against  the  violent  opposition 
of  Transylvania  University  and  other  denominational  institutions  of  the 
State,  mainly  by  the  telling,  by  Col.  James  Davidson,  one  of  the  friends 
of  the  enterprise,  of  a  humorous  anecdote  which  disarmed  the  oppo- 
sition. 

This  amended  charter  was  granted  on  January  27,  1824, 3  and  gives 
as  the  reason  for  its  enactment  that  the  funds  of  the  college  were  low 
and  it  needed  the  endowment  which  the  synod  proposed  to  give  to  it. 
That  J>ody  was  to  endow  the  institution  with  $20,000,  the  agreement 
going  into  effect  as  soon  as  $5,000  should  be  paid  in.  The  number  of 
trustees  then  in  office  was  to  be  retained  until,  by  death,  resignation,  or 
otherwise,  their  number  should  be  reduced  to  eleven.4  The  former 
character  of  the  institution,  as  to  some  extent  a  State  enterprise,  was 
removed  by  the  requirement  that  the  money  previously  received  from 
the  Harrodsburg  branch  of  the  Bank  of  the  Commonwealth  should  be 
paid  over  to  the  State  Institution  for  the  Education  of  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb,  recently  located  in  Danville.  The  funds  bestowed  upon  the  in- 
stitution were  also  to  be  restored  to  the  synod  if  its  charter  was  altered 
or  repealed  without  the  consent  of  that  body.  The  powers  and  priv- 
ileges of  the  college  by  its  amended  charter  were  very  wide  in  their 
character  and  scope,  so  much  so  that  no  extra  provisions  needed  to  be 
added  for  the  operatioa  of  a  university.  A  medical  department  was 


Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky,  p.  303. 

2  Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky,  pp.  313,  314. 

:!  Acts  of  1824-25,  pp.  63-64. 

qThe  number  of  trustees  is,  however,  still  retained  as  nineteen,  one-third  of 
whom  (seveu  in  one  year,  of  course)  are  elected  each  year  by  the  synod  of  Kentucky. 
It  is  usually  stated  that  when  the  synod  had  paid  in  $5,000  it  should  have  the  power 
to  elect  three  trustees  each  year  until  all  the  original  ones  were  replaced;  but  the 
act  of  1824  contains  no  such  provision,  at  least  in  the  collection  examined. 
2127— No.  25 8 


114  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

operated  under  it  in  Louisville  for  a  while  after  1833,  and  the  present 
law  school  of  the  institution  also  finds  the  warrant  for  its  existence  in 
the  same  instrument. 

Six  solicitors  were  appointed  at  the  same  time  the  trustees  were,  in 
1823,  to  further  increase  the  endowment  funds  already  in  the  hands  of 
the  synod.  These  do  not  seem  to  have  been  able,  for  some  reason,  to 
push  this  work  very  rapidly  or  successfully,  as  the  whole  of  the  needed 
$20,000  was  not  secured  and  paid  over  until  1830,  at  which  date  Centre 
may  be  said  to  have  become  strictly  a  denominational  college,  the  Pres- 
byterians finally  having  an  institution  they  could  really  call  their  own 
after  a  struggle  of  tifty  years,  counting  from  the  date  of  the  first  incor- 
poration of  Transylvania  Seminary  in  the  establishment  of  which  they 
had  taken  so  prominent  a  part. 

About  the  time  of  the  granting  of  the  amended  charter  an  unsuccessful 
attempt  was  made,  through  a  memorial  to  the  legislature,  to  secure  the 
return  of  the  funds  brought  to  Transylvania  University  by  Kentucky 
Academy  at  the  time  of  their  consolidation  and  largely  contributed  by 
Presbyterians  in  Kentucky  and  the  Eastern  States,  the  amount  of 
money,  books,  and  other  apparatus  at  the  time  of  the  union  being  esti- 
mated at  $7,662,T  besides  which  there  Avere  0,000  acres  of  land.  The 
$20,000  raised  to  secure  the  control  of  Centre  for  the  church  was  all 
contributed  by  the  denomination  in  Kentucky,  except  about  $1,000, 
which  came  from  New  England.  A  large  share  of  the  whole  amount 
was  contributed  by  Danville  and  its  vicinity. 

After  Dr.  Chamberlain  resigned  in  1826,  Eev.  David  C.  Proctor,  D.  D., 
was  acting  president  of  the  college  until  Eev.  Gideon  Blackburn,  D.  D., 
was  elected  the  next  president  in  1827.2 

That  Dr.  Blackburn  was  a  man  of  enterprise  and  perseverance  is 
illustrated  by  his  successful  effort  in  paying  his  own  expenses  through 
Dickinson  College,  Pennsylvania.  He  was  a  man  of  the  people  and 
enthusiastic  in  whatever  he  undertook.  He  was  also  noted  for  his 
popular  eloquence,  and  has  been  called3  "one  of  the  most  eloquent 
divines  of  the  West."  He  seems  to  have  been  more  of  an  orator  than 
a  profound  scholar  or  strong  administrator,  but  was  popular  with  his 
students,  as  was  shown  by  several  of  them  leaving  the  institution  in 
1830,  when  he  resigned  its  presidency  under  circumstances  which  caused 
his  friends  to  think  he  had  been  unjustly  treated  by  the  ti-ustees. 

This  probably  partially  accounts  for  the  fact  that  there  were,  at  the 
end  of  that  year,  in  the  college  only  33  students,  including  those  in  the 

1  Davidson's  Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky,  p.  314. 

2 This  date  is  given  in  a  recent  catalogue  sketch  as  1828,  but  all  other  authorities 
examined  give  1827.  A  short  sketch  of  Dr.  Blackburn  is  to  be  found  in  Sprague's 
Annals,  Vol.  IV,  p.  46,  and  the  general  catalogue  of  Centre  College  for  1890,  p.  6. 
He  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1772,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1792.  He  had 
engaged  mainly  in  the  work  of  the  pastorate  before  becoming  president  of  Centre. 
After  he  left  Danville  he  was  instrumental  in  founding  a  theological  seminary  at 
Carlinsville,  111.  He  died  in  1838. 

nCollins's  Sketches  of  Kentucky,  p.  137. 


CENTRE    COLLEGE.  115 

preparatory  department.  It  was  daring  Dr.  Blackburn's  administration, 
in  1828,  that  a  projected  theological  department  modeled  on  the  plan  of 
the  seminary  at  Princeton,  N.  J.,  with  three  professors  and  a  proposed 
endowment  of  $20,000,  was  attached  to  the  college  by  the  synod  of 
Kentucky.  A  fund  of  $2,000  was  actually  raised  and  the  department 
opened  with  one  professor,  Eev.  James  K.  Burch,  on  October  14,  1828, 
but  trouble  in  securing  the  remainder  of  the  endowment  caused  it  to 
be  abandoned  in  1831.  The  funds  already  raised  subsequently  went  to 
Danville  Theological  Seminary. 

In  connection  more  particularly  witli  this  department,  another  experi- 
ment was  also  made  by  the  college  in  the  purchase,  about  1830,  of  an 
industrial  farm,  intended  primarily  to  assist  candidates  for  the  ministry 
not  financially  able  to  educate  themselves  by  furnishing  them  the 
opportunity  of  remunerative  labor  for  two  hours  a  day.  The  benefits 
of  the  enterprise  were  opened  to  all  the  students  in  1833,  but  it  appears 
not  to  have  been  a  financial  success,  like  other  experiments  of  the  same 
kind  made  about  the  same  time  by  other  institutions  in  the  State,  and 
so  was  soon  abandoned. 

For  many  years  during  the  early  history  of  Centre  its  faculty  was 
composed  of  only  two  professors  and  a  grammar-school  teacher.  The 
number  of  students  during  this  period  varied  from  50  to  110  annually, 
a  very  large  proportion  of  whoiu  only  took  a  partial  or  irregular  course. 
Up  to  the  end  of  Dr.  Blackburn's  administration  there  had  been  25 
graduates. 

Dr.  Blackburn's  successor  in  the  presidency  was  Eev.  John  C.  Young, 
D.  D.,  who  assumed  the  duties  of  the  position  on  October  26, 1830,  and 
continued  to  discharge  them  with  great  acceptability  and  success  until 
his  death  on  June  23, 1857,  doing  during  this  time  more  than  any  other 
one  man  before  or  since  to  establish  the  prestige  of  Centre  among 
Kentucky  colleges. 

Dr.  Young,  after  attending  Columbia  College,  New  York,  for  a  time, 
had  graduated  in  1823,  when  just  about  20  years  of  age,  at  Dickinson 
College,  Pennsylvania,  then  under  the  presidency  of  the  celebrated  Dr. 
John  M.  Mason.  He  was  then  for  two  years  a  tutor  in  Princeton  Col- 
lege, New  Jersey,  and  later  studied  theology  in  Princeton  Seminary 
for  four  years.  He  came  to  Kentucky  in  1828  as  the  pastor  of  the 
McChord  Presbyterian  Church  in  Lexington,  and  it  was  from  this  pop- 
ular pastorate  that  he  was  called  to  the  presidency  of  Centre  College. 
He  was  eminently  fitted  for  this  position,  being  young,  energetic,  capa- 
ble, and  prudent,  while  he  was  also  a  forcible  and  effective  speaker 
and  a  born  teacher. 

The  affairs  of  the  college,  however,  seemed  in  a  bad  way  at  his 
accession.  A  number  of  its  students  had  left  dissatisfied  with  the 
treatment  of  Dr.  Blackburn,  and  the  institution  was  also  without 
funds.  About  $36,000  had  been  raised  for  the  institution  up  to  this 
time,  but  this  had  all  been  expended  in  buildings,  books,  and  other 


116  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

apparatus,  or  for  the  support  of  the  faculty  and  other  purposes,  and 
so  affairs  looked  rather  discouraging,  but  the  circumstances  were  not 
real  hindrances  to  a  man  like  Dr.  Young.  The  time  was,  moreover, 
somewhat  propitious,  as  Transylvania  University  had  materially  lost 
her  prestige,  and  the  confidence  of  the  public  in  her  had  been  greatly 
shattered,  so  that  this,  the  principal  source  of  competition  at  the  time, 
was  no  longer  to  be  greatly  feared. 

Dr.  Young's  many  excellent  qualities  soon  made  him  a  favorite  with 
people,  church,  and  students,  and  .so  the  attendance  was  soon  largely 
increased  and  new  members  were  added  to  the  faculty.  This  body  had 
been  composed  in  1830,  besides  Dr.  Young,  of  James  Buchanan,  pro- 
fessor of  mathematics;  Alvin  G.  Smith,  professor  of  chemistry,  and 
William.  E.  Thompson,  professor  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages. 
In  1833 l  the  faculty  was  constituted  as  follows:  Rev.  John  C.  Young, 
A.  M.,  president  and  professor  of  logic  and  moral  philosophy;  James 
M.  Buchanan,  A.  M.,  professor  of  mathematics;  Eev.  William  L.  Breck- 
iuridge,  A.  M.,  professor  of  ancient  languages;  Lewis  W.  Green, 
A.  M.,  professor  of  belles-lettres  and  political  economy;  Luke  Munsell, 
M.  D.,  professor  of  chemistry,  mineralogy,  and  natural  philosophy; 
Eev.  Joseph  Huber,  professor  of  modern  languages;  William  Y.  Allen 
and  Henry  G.  Cumings,  grammar  school  tutors.  Tuition  was  at  that 
time2  $30  per  annum  and  the  estimated  yearly  expenses  of  a  student 
from  $80  to  $100,  the  usual  price  of  board  being  $1.50  a  week. 

Contributions  to  the  endowment  also  soon  began  to  come  in,  Dr. 
Young's  owii  congregation  in  Danville  leading  in  this  movement.  In 
1835  about  $12,000  was  received  for  this  purpose  from  New  York,  but 
the  total  endowment  of  the  institution  in  1839  was  only  about  $16,000,3 
and  for  the  first  nine  years  of  Dr.  Young's  administration  the  college 
was  mainly  supported  by  tuition  fees.  During  this  time,  however,  the 
institution  was  establishing  for  itself  a  reputation  for  sound  learning, 
and  the  intellectual  and  oratorical  gifts  of  its  president  and  professors 
were  placing  them  and  it  in  the  front  ranks  of  the  intellectual  advance- 
ment of  the  day.  Not  only  had  the  number  of  students  increased,  but 
the  ratio  of  those  who  were  taking  a  regular  course  was  becoming  much 
greater,  and  classes  respectable  in  size  and  attainments  were  soon  being 
graduated,  there  being  5  graduates  in  1832,  9  in  1833,  11  in  1837,  15  in 
1838,  and  12  in  1839. 

It  was  during  this  period,  on  December  1,  1833,  that  a  medical  col- 
lege, called  the  Medical  Institute,  was  opened  in  Louisville  under  the 
charter  of  the  college.  There  seems,  however,  to  have  been  very  little 
real  connection  between  the  two  institutions,  and  whatever  there  was 
was  soon  dissolved,  the  Medical  Institute,  which  never  seems  to  have 
amounted  to  much,  being  absorbed  in  1837  by  a  new  institution,  under 

1  American  Almanac  and  Eepository  of  Useful  Knowledge  for  1834. 

2  The  college  had  then  a  two  story  brick  building  and  also  a  refectory  and  dormi- 
tory, a  library  of  1,600  volumes,  and  a  good  chemical  and  philosophical  apparatus. 

3Barbour's  Alumni  Address,  p.  13. 


CENTRE    COLLEGE.  117 

the  same  name,  which  subsequently  developed  into  the  Medical  Depart 
ment  of  the  University  of  Louisville. 

It  was  also  about  the  close  of  this  same  period  that  the  increasing 
reputation  of  Centre  led  the  trustees  of  Transylvania  University  to 
offer  the  presidency  of  that  institution  to  Dr.  Young,  in  the  hope  that 
some  of  the  tide  of  popular  favor  might  be  turned  in  their  direction. 

The  schism  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  1838  between  the  old  and 
new  schools  injured  Centre  considerably,  as  did  also,  to  some  extent, 
the  agitation?  about  this  time,  in  the  State  in  favor  of  the  emancipation 
of  its  slaves,  with  which  movement  the  college,  especially  through  Dr. 
Young,  who  was  a  prominent  advocate  of  the  movement,  had  become 
to  some  extent  identified.  In  regard  to  both  these  questions,  however, 
its  faculty  took  the  position  they  deemed  to  be  right  without  regard  to 
the  consequences. 

The  period  between  1840  and  1853  is  one  of  especial  growth  in  the 
history  of  the  college.  Notwithstanding  strenuous  efforts  in  its  behalf, 
the  institution  had  often  been  crippled  in  its  work  for  lack  of  funds 
prior  to  1840,  but  in  that  year  its  own  imperative  needs  and  the  recent 
munificent  donations  bestowed  upon  Transylvania  University  by  Lex- 
ington and  the  Transylvania  Institute  spurred  up  the  Synod  of  Ken- 
tucky to  take  more  active  measures  in  raising  an  endowment  for  the 
college,  which  it  was  intended  to  make  not  less  than  $100,000.  This 
movement  soon  made  favorable  progress,  but  meanwhile  the  expansion 
in  matriculation  more  than  kept  pace  with  it  until,  in  1846,  the  expenses 
of  the  institution  were  again  greater  than  its  income,  while,  at  the  same 
time,  an  additional  new  professorship  was  urgently  needed.  To  meet 
this  situation,  a  special  effort  was  made,  which  was  soon  almost  com- 
pletely successful  in  raising  the  desired  amount. 

Collins  tells  us  in  his  Sketches  l  that  the  income  of  the  college  in  1846 
was  $3,000  a  year,  and  that  its  library  then  had  about  5,000  volumes, 
many  of  them  rare  and  valuable.  Its  course  of  instruction,  he  says,  then 
differed  but  little  from  that  of  the  older  colleges  of  the  country,  being 
equal  to  them  in  classics  and  mathematics,  and  while  somewhat  inferior 
in  natural  science,  owing  to  the  lack  of  equal  facilities,  stronger  in  the 
mental  and  moral  sciences.  At  this  time  an  increased  endowment  was 
especially  desired  in  order  to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  work  in  natural 
science.  We  find  that  in  1849  the  income  of  the  college  had  increased 
to  $4,000  a  year,  and  that  its  course  is  soon  announced  in  its  catalogue 
as  the  equal  of  any  in  the  land. 

The  importance  of  the  institution,  which  had  been  constantly  increas- 
ing for  a  number  of  years,  was  still  further  added  to,  in  1853,  by  the 
establishment  of  Danville  Theological  Seminary,  which,  being  under 
the  auspices  of  the  whole  church  and  being  operated  in  close  har- 
mony with  the  college,  necessarily  enlarged  the  prestige  of  the  latter 
materially. 


Sketches  of  Kentucky,  p.  206. 


118  HISTORY    OP    HIGHEK    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

Throughout  this  period  aud  the  remainder  of  Dr.  Young's  adminis- 
tration the  number  of  students  and  the  size  of  the  graduating  classes 
continued  to  grow.  In  1851  there  were  201  students,  who  were  from 
fifteen  States  and  Territories  of  the  Union  and  one  other  country,  and 
in  1855  seventeen  States  and  one  foreign  country  were  represented  by 
220  students.  In  the  last  scholastic  year  of  his  administration  there 
were  225  students  and  47  graduates,  the  average  number  of  graduates 
for  several  years  past  having  been  about  30. L  The  whole  number  of 
graduates  in  1857  was  about  500,  located  mainly  in  the  South  and 
West,  where  they  were  to  be  found  in  every  State  and  Territory. 

Dr.  Young  died  in  the  prime  of  life,  greatly  beloved  and  lamented, 
and  his  loss  was  considered  a  great  blow  to  the  college  for  which  he 
had  done  so  much.  Besides  this,  his  great  life  work,  and  his  labors  in 
behalf  of  emancipation,  he  had  done  much,  in  conjunction  with  Eev. 
B.  O.  Peers  and  others,  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of  public  school  education 
in  Kentucky.  The  other  regular  members  of  the  faculty  at  the  time  of 
his  death  were:  Ormond  Beatty,  A.  M.,  professor  of  physics  and  chem- 
istry; Rev.  Alfred  Ryors,  D.  D.,  professor  of  mathematics;  Rev.  James 
Matthews,  A.  M.,  professor  of  English  literature  and  of  the  Latin  lan- 
guage, and  Rev.  Jacob  Cooper,  Ph.  D.,  professor  of  the  Greek  language 
and  literature. 

Dr.  Young's  successor  in  the  presidency  was  Rev.  L.  W.  Green,  D.  D., 
the  outlines  of  whose  previous  career  have  been  given  in  connection 
with  the  history  of  Transylvania  University,  of  which  he  was  president 
at  the  time  of  his  election  to  the  presidency  of  Centre,  on  August  6, 
1857.  As  already  noted,  he  was  an  alumnus  of  the  institution,  having 
been  a  member  of  its  first  graduating  class,  that  of  1824,  and  had  taught 
in  his  alma  mater  for  a  time  in  his  earlier  educational  career.  Dr. 
Green  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  new  office  on  January  1,  1858, 
and,  like  his  predecessor,  also  died  in  office,  on  May  20, 1863.  Dr.  Green 
was  a  worthy  successor  of  Dr.  Young,  and  the  prosperity  of  the  college 
continued  until  interrupted  by  the  advent  of  the  civil  war.  There  were 
253  students  in  attendance  in  1859-60,  and  in  1861  the  endowment  of  the 
college  was  reported  as  $10(.),398. 

In  1858  an  agent  was  appointed  by  the  synod  to  secure  funds  for  a  new 
building  and  additional  equipment.  By  1861  $50,000  had  been  raised 
for  this  purpose,  but  the  uncertainty  of  affairs,  due  to  the  coming  on  of 
the  war,  led  to  the  erection  of  the  building  being  postponed.  At  the  same 
time,  $5,000  was  given  for  a  library  building  by  Mr.  David  A.  Sayre, 
of  Lexington,  the  founder  of  Sayre  Institute.  This  building  was  com- 
pleted and  occupied  in  1862,  being  named  Sayre  Hall,  in  honor  of  the 
principal  donor. 

During  this  administration  more  emphasis  than  formerly  was  put 
upon  the  scientific  departments,  and  the  foundations  were  laid  of  what 
has  since  developed  into  a  regular  bachelor  of  science  course.  For  a 
considerable  time,  students  devoting  their  main  attention  to  these 

'  There  were  29  graduates  in  1853,  31  iu  1854,  24  in  1855,  aud  27  in  1856. 


CENTRE    COLLEGE.  119 

departments  were  special  scientific  students,,  who  did  not  receive  a  reg- 
ular degree. 

The  operations  of  the  college  were  only  interrupted  for  a  few  days 
occasionally  by  the  civil  war,  and  its  funds  during  that  period  were 
not  materially  decreased,  although  its  matriculation,  of  course,  was. 
In  1862-63  there  were  only  105  students  altogether.  Upon  Dr.  Green's 
death,  in  May,  1863.  Rev.  William  L.  Breckinridge,  D.  D.,  was  elected  to 
the  vacant  presidency.  He  had  already  been  for  a  while  professor  of 
ancient  languages  at  Centre,  and  had  for  the  past  four  years  been  the 
president  of  Oakland  College,  Mississippi.  He  entered  upon  the  duties 
of  his  position  at  Danville  on  October  18,  1863,  and  served  until  his 
resignation  on  October  16,  1868. 

Dr.  Breckinridge  stood  high  in  the  councils  of  his  church,  and  while 
perhaps  more  noted  as  a  preacher  and  pastor  than  as  an  educator,  was  a 
wise  and  capable  executive  head  for  the  college.  His  administration 
fell  during  the  difficult  times  of  the  latter  part  of  the  war,  and  the  even 
more  troublous  period,  to  one  in  his  position,  of  the  reconstruction  era. 
His  difficulties  were  especially  complicated  by  the  contention  between 
the  two  synods  of  Kentucky,  after  the  disruption  of  the  original  synod 
in  1866,  as  to  which  should  have  the  right  to  control  the  college  by 
electing  its  board  of  trustees.  This  contest  occurred  mainly  during  the 
next  administration,  but  was  begun  in  1867.  It,  of  course,  led  to  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  small  matriculation  brought  about  by  the  war.  The 
average  attendance  during  this  period  was  only  from  one-third  to  one- 
half  what  it  had  been  prior  to  the  war. 

When  Dr.  Breckinridge  resigned  in  October,  1868,  Ormond  Beatty, 
LL.  D.,  became  president  pro  tern.,  acting  in  this  capacity  until  Septem- 
ber 1,  1870,  when  he  was  elected  president,  a  position  held  by  him  until 
September,  1888.  Dr.  Beatty  was  an  alumnus  of  the  college  in  the 
class  of  1835,  and  had  been  teaching  in  it  all  his  life,  having  been 
appointed  its  professor  of  natural  science  just  prior  to  his  graduation, 
when  he  was  only  twenty  years  old.  He  had  accepted  the  position  on 
the  condition  that  he  might  spend  a  year  at  Yale  College  in  additional 
preparation  before  assuming  its  duties.  He  held  that  chair  until  1847, 
when  he  was  transferred  to  the  chair  of  mathematics,  but  in  1852  he 
again  resumed  his  old  chair.  At  his  election  as  president  in  1870,  he 
took  charge  of  the  department  of  metaphysics.  He  had  been  promi- 
nently connected  with  the  work  of  his  church  in  various  capacities  and 
was  a  man  of  ability  and  of  great  equableness  of  temper,  besides  being 
a  speaker  of  force  and  clearness.  Under  his  administration  several 
progressive  steps  in  the  history  of  the  college  occurred. 

In  the  first  place  a  fine  new  building  was  erected,  mainly  from  the 
funds  collected  for  this  purpose  before  the  war.  It  was  completed  and 
dedicated  on  June  26, 1872.  At  the  same  time  Dr.  Beatty  was  formally 
inaugurated  as  president.1  It  was  quite  a  handsome  structure,  costing 

1  The  requisite  majority  of  trustees  had  not  been  present  when  Dr.  Beatty  was  first 
elected  in  1870,  and  so  his  election  was  confirmed  at  this  time  and  his  formal  inaugu- 
ration took  place. 


120  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

about  $60,000,  and  was  considered  the  finest  of  its  kind  in  the  State 
at  the  time. 

In  addition  to  the  new  building,  new  books  and  apparatus  were  also 
added  to  the  equipment  of  the  institution.  The  Scott  museum  of  nat- 
ural history  was  begun  at  this  time.  The  faculty  was  also  increased  in 
numbers  and  the  scope  and  sphere  of  its  work  generally  enlarged.  Its 
regular  professors  in  1872,  with  their  departments  of  instruction,  were 
as  follows:  Ormond  Beatty,  A.  M.,  LL.  D.,  president  and  professor  of 
metaphysics  and  political  science;  Rev.  John  L.  McKee,  D.  D.,  vice 
president  and  professor  of  moral  philosophy;  Eev.  James  C.  Randolph, 
A.  M.,  professor  of  mathematics;  Jason  W.  Ohenault,  A.M.,  Ph.  D., 
professor  of  the  Latin  language  and  rhetoric;  Salvator  De  Soto,  A.  M., 
professor  of  Greek  and  modern  languages;  John  C.  Fales,  A.  M.,  pro- 
fessor of  physical  and  natural  science. 

Since  the  occupation  of  the  new  building  the  old  one  has  been  con- 
verted into  a  dormitory  for  students,  especially  intended  for  those  who 
wish  to  live  in  an  inexpensive  way. 

The  difficulty  about  the  future  control  of  the  college  was  also  perma- 
nently settled.  After  various  unsuccessful  efforts  had  been  made  to 
heal  the  schism,  unite  the  parts  in  support  of  the  institution,  or  divide 
its  funds,  the  legislature  and  the  courts — circuit,  appellate,  and  United 
States  district — were  invoked,  all  of  which  tribunals  gave  the  college  to 
the  original  synod,  commonly  called  that  of  the  Northern  Presbyterian 
Church  in  contradistinction  to  the  newer  body,  the  Southern  Presby- 
terian Church,  as  being  the  party  in  control  and  as  having  steadfastly 
adhered  to  the  original  General  Assembly.  The  final  decision  in  the 
matter  was  reached  in  1873. 

The  institution  had  then  begun  to  regain  some  of  its  former  vigor, 
but  had  hardly  started  on  its  new  career  of  prosperity  before  it  was 
overtaken  by  what  was  apparently  a  new  adversity,  in  the  form  of 
the  robbery  of  about  $60,000  of  its  bonds,  on  March  10,  1873,  from  the 
vaults  of  the  Falls  City  Tobacco  Bank  of  Louisville,  Ky.  This  amount 
was  nearly  two-thirds  of  its  productive  endowment  at  the  time  and  it 
seemed  that  the  college  would  either  have  to  suspend  entirely  for  a 
time  or  greatly  curtail  its  work  for  the  future.  Its  friends,  however, 
rallied  to  its  aid,  and  in  the  end  it  was  really  strengthened  by  the  catas- 
trophe. When  Dr.  McKee,  its  vice  president,  announced  its  condition l 
to  his  congregation,  at  Danville,  f  6,000  was  raised  in  its  behalf  in  a 
very  short  while,  and  $6,000  more  was  subscribed  in  the  vicinity  in  the 
next  few  days.  Largely  through  the  efforts  of  Dr.  McKee  subscriptions 
and  promised  legacies,  amounting  to  more  than  $100,000,  were  soon 
secured,  and,  as  all  but  about  $20,000  of  the  stolen  bonds  were  ultimately 
recovered,  the  institution  was  really  placed  in  a  much  better  financial 
condition  than  before— its  endowment  by  1885  having  been  nearly 


1  On  March  23,  1873,  when  it  was  thought  the  college  would  have  to  suspend  in 
June  if  $50,000  was  not  raised  towards  its  endowment  (Collins's  History  of  Ken- 
tucky, Vol.  I,  p.  246). 


CENTRE    COLLEGE.  121 

doubled — and  continued  to  enlarge  its  work  rather  tban  curtail  it,  as 
had  been  feared  would  be  necessary. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  a  regular  course  leading  to  the  degree 
of  bachelor  of  science  was  instituted,  while  an  elective  course  quite 
similar  to  that  formerly  taken  by  scientific  students  was  also  added  to 
the  former  curriculum. 

The  funds  given  at  this  time,  as  at  other  periods,  were  mainly  given 
in  hundreds  of  small  donations,  but  among  the  most  prominent  contrib- 
utors were  Samuel  Laird,  who  gave  about  $12,000;  Oaldwell  Campbell, 
L.  L.  Warren,  and  B.  F.  Avery,  who  gave  over  $10,000  each;  while  Dr. 
John  Scott  contributed  $10,000,  A.  M.  January,  $5,000  or  over,  Mrs. 
M.  A.  Wilson,  $5,000  or  more,  and  many  others  $1,000  each. 

Dr.  Beatty,  owing  to  advancing  years  and  failing  health,  first  ten- 
dered his  resignation  as  president  of  the  college  to  its  board  of  trus- 
tees on  June  15,  188G.  He  again  tendered  it  on  November  30,  1880,  at 
which  time  it  was  accepted,  to  take  effect  upon  the  qualification  of  his 
successor.  The  selection  of  his  successor  did  not  take  place,  however, 
until  June  19, 1888,  when,  after  various  unsuccessful  efforts  to  secure  a 
president,  Rev.  William  0.  Young,  D.  D.,  the  sou  of  the  distinguished 
former  president,  Dr.  John  C.  Young,  was  unanimously  elected  to  the 
position.  Dr.  Beatty  retained  his  professorship  until  his  death,  on 
June  24,  1890,  after  a  long  career  of  faithful  and  able  services  to  his 
alma  mater  and  the  interests  of  education  in  general. 

Dr.  W.  0.  Young  promptly  accepted  the  presidency  upon  his  election 
and  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office  at  the  opening  of  the  next 
scholastic  year,  on  September  5, 1888.  He  had  graduated  from  Centre 
in  the  class  of  1859,  when  about  seventeen  years  old;  had  taught,  trav- 
eled, and  studied  for  the  next  three  years,  and  had  then  entered  Dan- 
ville Theological  Seminary,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1865.  He  then 
engaged  principally  in  the  successful  work  of  various  pastorates  of  his 
church  until,  upon  the  general  desire  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  and, 
in  some  sense,  of  the  whole  Presbyterian  Church,  he  accepted  the  presi- 
dency of  Centre  College.  He  was  a  man  of  an  agreeable  personality, 
was  a  fine  scholar,  an  able  minister,  and  made  an  admirable  college 
president. 

His  administration  was  one  of  general  enlargement  in  almost  all 
directions,  Dr.  Young's  efforts  in  this  direction  being  seconded  by  old 
and  new  friends  of  the  institution.  Funds  for  this  purpose  soon  began 
to  be  contributed,  a  considerable  part  of  the  contributions  coming  from 
the  East,  and  by  1891  the  endowment  had  been  increased  by  $100,000. 
In  that  year  three  new  professorships  were  added  to  the  faculty,  and  a 
splendid  new  gymnasium  was  added  to  the  equipment  of  the  college, 
largely  through  the  liberality  of  Judge  A.  P.  Humphrey  and  Hon. 
St.  John  Boyle,  of  Louisville,  alumni  of  the  institution.  The  library 
of  Dr.  Beatty,  and  also  a  large  portion  of  that  of  Eev.  S.  D.  Burchard, 
of  New  York  City,  another  alumnus,  were  also  added,  by  bequest,  to 


122  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

the  college  library,  thus  increased  to  6,000  volumes,  while  an  effort  on 
the  part  of  other  alumni  to  endow  a  chair  of  English  named  in  honor 
of  Dr.  John  0.  Young  was  partly  successful.  In  1894  a  beautiful  new 
library  building,  with  space  in  its  alcoves  for  more  than  20,000  volumes, 
and  an  attractive  and  commodious  reading  room  attached,  was  erected. 
It  still  bears  the  name  of  Sayre  Hall,  in  honor  of  the  donor  of  the 
original  building. 

In  October  of  1894  a  new  law  school,  with  three  professors,  was 
attached  to  the  college.  J.  Proctor  Knott,  LL.  D.,  a  man  prominent  in 
both  Kentucky  and  national  public  affairs,  and  who  had  been  con- 
nected with  the  faculty  for  the  past  three  years  as  professor  of  civics 
and  economics,  was  made  dean  of  the  new  department,  in  the  instruc- 
tion of  which  he  is  assisted  by  Robert  P.  Jacobs,  LL.  D.,  and  John  W. 
Yerkes,  A.  M.,  LL.  B.  Their  respective  chairs  are:  Institutes  of  law, 
constitutional  law,  pleading  and  evidence,  domestic  relations  and  con- 
tracts ;  equity,  jurisprudence,  mercantile  law,  real  and  personal  prop- 
erty and  wills;  and  corporations,  criminal  law  and  procedure,  insurance, 
agency,  and  torts.  These  titles  indicate  the  scope  of  the  curriculum, 
which  leads  to  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  law.  The  course  of  instruc- 
tion covers  two  years  and  is  designed  to  fit  students  for  the  practice  of 
their  profession  in  any  part  of  the  country.  Matriculates  of  the  school 
can  attend  lectures  and  recitations  in  other  departments  of  the  college 
without  additional  expense. 

The  attendance  upon  this  department  since  its  organization  has  been 
very  gratifying  and  seems  to  be  such  as  to  guarantee  its  permanency 
for  the  future.  More  recently  a  new  chair  of  physics  and  chemistry 
has  been  established,  which  shares  with  the  chair  of  geology  and 
biology  the  work  of  the  previous  chair  of  natural  science.  The  scien- 
tific apparatus  of  the  college  has  also  been  improved  in  such  a  way  as 
to  furnish  it  with  well-equipped  laboratories  and  an  excellent  museum 
for  work  and  illustration.  By  1896  the  invested  funds  of  the  institu- 
tion had  become  about  $265,000,  about  $125,000  having  been  added  in 
the  previous  eight  years.  Its  annual  income  from  all  sources  was  then 
about  $23,000,  whereas  in  1887  it  had  been  about  $9,000. 

The  matriculation  of  the  college  had  meanwhile  increased  in  a  man- 
ner corresponding  with  the  expansion  in  other  directions.  At  the 
beginning  of  Dr.  Young's  administration  the  annual  attendance  had 
been  about  175  each  year,  of  whom  about  100  had  been  in  the  collegiate 
department.  In  1895-96,  the  last  full  year  of  his  presidency,  there 
were  208  students  in  the  collegiate  classes,  while  there  were  20  law 
students  and  about  75  others  in  the  academy.  The  graduating  classes 
about  1888  averaged  15.  In  1895-96  the  class  numbered  40.  During 
this  period  students  had  at  one  time  been  in  attendance  from  sixteen 
of  the  States  and  Territories  and  one  foreign  country. 

On  September  16, 1896,  President  Young  died  suddenly  while  in  the 
active  discharge  of  his  duties,  being  cut  off,  like  his  honored  father,  in 


CENTRE    COLLEGE.  123 

the  prime  of  life  and  in  the  midst  of  a  career  of  usefulness.  His  admin- 
istration had  been  a  pronounced  success,  as  during  it  the  number  of 
students  had  been  largely  increased,  a  law  department  auspiciously 
organized,  and  the  income  of  the  institution  more  than  doubled,  while 
about  $20,000  had  been  spent  for  new  buildings  and  the  scientific 
apparatus  of  the  institution  had  also  been  much  enlarged. 

For  about  two  years  after  Dr.  Young's  death,  while  negotiations  for 
securing  a  new  president  were  being  conducted,  Prof.  J.  C.  Tales,  as 
the  senior  member  of  the  faculty,  or  dean,  was  the  acting  president  of 
the  college,  Dr.  McKee,  who  had  served  the  institution  so  long  and 
well,  especially  in  the  matter  of  securing  its  endowment  during  Dr. 
Beatty's  administration,  declining  the  new  responsibility  and  retiring 
from  the  faculty  at  the  end  of  the  first  of  these  years.  At  that  time 
Kev.  W.  H.  Johnson,  M.  A.,  became  professor  of  logic  and  psychology. 
A  lecturer  on  criminal  law  and  an  instructor  in  elocution  were  also 
added  to  the  corps  of  instruction. 

The  institution  also  continued  to  advance  in  other  ways.  Its  library 
especially  was  increased  by  the  gift  of  1,000  volumes  from  the  library 
of  its  late  president,  Dr.  Young,  by  an  additional  donation  from  the 
library  of  Dr.  Burchard,  and  by  a  collection  of  3,000  volumes  of  new 
and  modern  works  presented  to  the  institution  by  the  Memorial 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  through  its  pastor,  Kev.  S.  A. 
Mutchmore,  D.  D.,  an  alumnus  of  the  college,  which  is  to  form  the 
nucleus  of  a  collection  to  be  called  "The  S.  A.  Mutchmore  Library." 
These  additions,  together  with  the  purchase  of  standard  works  from 
time  to  time,  have  augmented  the  present  college  library  to  about 
12,000  volumes,  besides  which  the  two  literary  societies  connected  with 
the  institution  have  combined  libraries  of  about  3,500  volumes.  Among 
other  improvements  contemplated  by  the  college  are  a  new  academy 
building,  anew  scientific  building,  and  an  alumni  commencement  hall, 
and  the  probabilities  are  that  these  will  soon  be  secured. 

Centre  College  is  one  of  the  few  larger  and  more  important  institu- 
tions in  the  State  which  has  not  adopted  coeducation,  now  a  pretty 
generally  accepted  policy  throughout  educational  circles  in  Kentucky. 
The  institution  considers  that,  at  least  for  the  present,  it  has  a  suffi- 
ciently large  field  for  it  to  carry  out  its  work  in  the  old  historic  way. 
This  position  appears  to  be  abundantly  maintained  by  its  large  matric- 
ulation from  year  to  year,  which,  although  it  has  not  been  quite  so 
large  as  formerly  for  the  past  two  years,  has  sustained  itself  well  in 
comparison  with  other  educational  institutions  generally  in  the  State 
and  throughout  the  country. 

In  June,  1898,  a  new  president  for  the  institution  was  secured  in  the 
person  of  Kev.  William  C.  Roberts,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  S.  T.  D.,  who  was 
born  in  Wales  in  1832,  graduated  at  Princeton  College,  New  Jersey,  in 
1855  and  at  Princeton  Seminary  in  1858.  Since  the  latter  date  he  has 
been  mainly  engaged  in  the  pastorate  of  various  Presbyterian  churches, 


124  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

and  lias  served  two  terms,  from  188  L  to  1880  and  from  1893  to  1898,  as 
corresponding  secretary  of  the  board  of  home  missions  of  his  church, 
in  which  he  has  always  held  a  prominent  position.  He  should  be  well 
fitted  to  carry  out  the  traditions  of  the  college  over  which  he  has  been 
called  to  preside,  which  has  always  been  noted  for  its  high  moral  tone 
and  its  devotion  to  sound  learning. 

No  institution  in  Kentucky  has  a  more  distinguished  body  of  alumni 
than  Centre  College;  in  fact,  few  colleges  in  the  country  have  a  greater 
number  of  graduates  distinguished  in  political  life  especially,  the  pro- 
fession of  the  law  and  that  of  the  ministry  being  those  most  largely 
followed  by  Centre  alumni.  Once  or  twice  in  the  past  seventeen  years 
there  have  been  more  old  students  of  Centre  in  both  Houses  of  Congress 
than  of  any  other  college  in  the  country  except  Yale  University.  The 
following  statement,  taken  substantially  from  the  catalogue  of  the  col- 
lege for  1897-98,  will  perhaps  best  show  the  number  and  attainments  of 
Centre's  graduates: 

The  entire  number  of  its  alumni  at  the  present  time  is  over  1,200.  Among  these 
are  more  than  330  lawyers,  about  225  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and  more  than  100 
physicians,  and  the  remainder  are  found  in  various  professions  and  callings.  Among 
the  alumni  are  many,  both  of  the  living  and  the  dead,  who  liave  greatly  distin- 
guished themselves  in  their  respective  professions,  and  have  attained  the  highest 
positions  of  honor  and  trust,  especially  throughout  the  South  and  West,  where  they 
reside,  or  where  they  did  reside  while  they  lived. 

Centre  College  has  educated  24  college  presidents,  44  college  professors,  26  repre- 
sentatives in  Congress,  5  United  States  Senators,  7  governors  of  States,  2  Vice- 
Presideuts  of  the  United  States,  1  justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  38 
circuit  judges,  State  and  national;  48  editors,  4  or  5  ministers  to  foreign  countries, 
and  many  others  occupying  positions  of  trust  and  responsibility  in  other  fields. 

The  course  of  instruction  in  the  collegiate  department  of  the  institu- 
tion is  at  present  divided  into  thirteen  departments,  as  follows:  Bibli- 
cal studies,  moral  philosophy  and  history,  evidences  of  Christianity  and 
logic,  metaphysics,  civics  and  economics,  geology  and  biology,  physics 
and  chemistry,  mathematics,  Greek,  Latin,  English,  modern  languages, 
and  hygiene  and  physical  training.  There  are  two  regular  courses, 
that  of  bachelor  of  arts  and  that  of  bachelor  of  science,1  the  latter 
substituting  certain  natural  sciences  for  Greek.  In  the  junior  and 
senior  years  of  these  courses  considerable  specialization  is  allowed 
by  the  choice  of  so  many  hours7  work  a  week  among  a  group  of  elective 
studies.  There  is,  besides,  an  elective  course  of  two  years,  not  loading 
to  a  degree,  for  students  desiring  to  take  special  subjects,  in  which 
practically  the  only  requirement  is  that  the  student  be  properly  quali- 
fied to  pursue  with  success  the  subjects  taken  and  that  the  amount  of 
work  done  be  equal  to  the  work  of  one  of  the  regular  courses. 

An  academy,  with  a  course  of  two  years  specially  arranged  to  pre- 
pare students  for  the  college  classes,  is  attached  to  the  institution  and 

1  In  each  of  these  courses,  as  usual,  the  master's  degree  is  granted  upon  the  satis- 
factory completion  of  an  additional  year's  work  and  the  presentation  of  an  accept- 
able thesis. 


i 


1 


Iff  "It 

" 


If     i  t  * 


KENTUCKY  WESLEYAN   COLLEGE,   WINCHESTER. 


KENTUCKY  WESLEY AN  COLLEGE.  125 

has  been  from  the  beginning.  It  is  under  the  control  of  the  college  and 
its  students  are  enumerated  as  a  part  of  the  college  matriculation,  but 
it  has  really  been  operated  as  a  separate  institution  for  over  fifty  years. 
The  following  are  fhe  regular  professors  of  the  college  faculty,  besides 
whom  there  are  connected  with  the  institution  a  lecturer,  three  instruct- 
ors, and  a  principal  and  assistant  of  the  academy :  Rev.  William  C.  Rob- 
erts, D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  S.  T.  D.,  president,  professor  of  moral  philosophy  and 
history;  John  Cilley  Fales,  A.  M.,  F.  G.  S.  A.,  professor  of  geology  and 
biology,  and  librarian;  Alfred  Brierley  Nelson,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  professor 
of  mathematics;  John  W.  Redd,  A.  M.,  professor  of  Greek  language 
and  literature,  secretary  of  faculty;  Samuel  Robertson  Cheek,  A.  M., 
professor  of  Latin  language  and  literature ;  James  Proctor  Knott,  LL.  D., 
professor  of  law,  civics,  and  economics;  Robert  Powell  Jacobs,  LL.  D., 
professor  of  law;  John  Watson  Yerkes,  A.  M.,  LL.  B.,  professor  of  law; 
Richard  Oakley  Stilwell,  M.  E.,  professor  of  physics  and  chemistry; 
Frederick  Houk  Law,  M.  A.,  professor  of  English  language  and  litera- 
ture; Rev.  William  Hallock  Johnson,  M.  A.,  professor  of  logic  and 
psychology. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Collins's  Sketches,  Collins's,  Shaler's,  Smith's,  and  Perriu,  Battle,  and  Kuiflfen's 
histories.  The  last  is  especially  valuable,  as  it  contains  a  sketch  of  the  college, 
written  by  President  Beatty. 

Davidson's  Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky. 

The  Biographical  Encyclopedia  of  Kentucky. 

Henderson's  Centennial  Exhibit. 

Acts  of  the  State  legislature. 

Cleland's  Memoirs 

Sprague's  Annals. 

Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education. 

Niles's  Kegister. 

The  American  Almanac. 

A  Memoir  of  Sylvester  Scovel,  D.  D.,  by  James  Wood,  D.  D.,  New  Albany,  1851. 

A  History  of  Mercer  and  Boyle  counties,  by  Maria  T.  Daviess,  weekly  articles  in 
the  Harrodsburg  Democrat  from  January  30, 1885,  to  November  20, 1885. 

KENTUCKY   WESLEYAN   COLLEGE,    WINCHESTER. 

Although  Kentucky  Wesleyau  College  has  been  in  operation  as  a 
college  only  since  1866,  yet,  in  conception  and  as  a  representative  college 
of  Kentucky  Methodism,  it  dates  back  even  to  the  planning  of  Bethel 
Academy  in  1790,  as  the  institution  is,  in  a  sense,  a  continuation  of  the 
three  older  institutions,  Bethel  Academy,  Augusta  College,  and  Tran- 
sylvania University,  while  under  the  control  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  As  President  Pearce  expresses  it,1  "The  journeying  ark  of 
educational  purpose  of  the  church  fathers  in  Kentucky  found  rest  for  a 
time,"  first  at  Bethel — then  truly  in  a  western  wilderness — then  at 
Augusta,  then  at  Lexington,  then  at  Millersburg,  and  finally  at  Win- 
chester on  the  one  hand,  and  Nashville,  Tenn.,  on  the  other,  for  Van- 


Inaugural  address,  p.  23. 


126  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

derbilt  University  is  the  adopted  institution  of  Louisville  Conference, 
the  western  portion  of  old  Kentucky  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Churcb.  This  continuity  of  history  is  typified,  both  in  the 
case  of  Kentucky  Wesleyan,  and  Vanderbilt,  by  some  of  the  bricks 
from  the  walls  of  old  Bethel  Academy  having  been  built  into  the  walls 
of  the  main  building  of  each  of  these  institutions. 

In  regard  to  the  strictly  Kentucky  branch  of  this  educational  move- 
ment, we  have  already  traced  the  history  of  the  sojourn  at  Lexington, 
in  connection  with  the  history  of  Transylvania  University.  A  sketch  of 
Bethel  and  Augusta  will  be  reserved  for  a  later  date,  and  our  attention 
for  the  present  will  be  confined  to  the  principal  events  connected  with 
the  career  of  Kentucky  Wesleyan  College  at  its  two  locations,  Millers- 
burg  and  Winchester. 

AT   MILLERSBURG. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  rent  asunder  not  long  before 
the  final  decline,  in  1849,  of  Augusta  College,  its  originally  adopted 
educational  institution  in  Kentucky,  and  its  abandonment,  at  the  same 
time,  of  Transylvania  University,  both  of  which  events*  were  doubtless 
hastened  by  the  disruption.  Neither  branch  of  the  denomination  in 
Kentucky  undertook  any  other  educational  enterprise  at  once.  The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South,  however,  which  was  then,  more  so 
than  now,  much  the  larger  of  the  two  branches  of  the  original  organi- 
zation in  the  State,  soon  began  to  consider  plans  to  supply  its  educa- 
tional needs,  which  developed  into  the  founding  of  Kentucky  Wesleyan 
College  at  Millersburg. 

Eev.  Daniel  Stevenson,  D.  D.,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  more  in  con- 
nection with  the  history  of  Union  College  and  the  State  public-school 
system,  in  1856  or  earlier  caused  Kentucky  Conference  of  that  church 
to  pass  a  resolution  favoring  the  location  of  a  college  in  the  town 
within  its  limits  offering  the  greatest  inducements,  but  Rev.  T.  P. 
Shellmau  is  the  one  most  prominent  in  bringing  about  the  immediate 
organization  of  the  institution. 

In  September,  1857,  while  presiding  elder  of  the  Covington  district, 
Mr.  Shellman  had  set  to  work  to  establish  a  male  and  female  conference 
school  somewhere  in  his  district.  By  seeking  for  propositions  from  dif- 
ferent towns,  he  induced  Millersburg  to  undertake  the  building  of  a  house 
for  the  proposed  school,  the  idea  at  the  time  being  to  engraft  it  upon  the 
school  already  being  conducted  there  by  Dr.  George  S.  Savage,  which 
had  outgrown  its  building.  A  number  of  other  people  had  become 
interested  in  the  enterprise,  principally  through  Mr.  Shellman,  and 
$7,500  havirg  been  subscribed  by  citizens  of  the  town,  in  the  summer 
of  1858  a  building  committee,  which  had  been  appointed  for  the  insti- 
tution and  consisted  of  Dr.  A.  G.  Stitt,  Mr.  Alex.  S.  Miller,  and  Mr. 
William  Nunn,  purchased  grounds  just  outside  the  northern  limits  of 
the  town  and  laid  the  foundations  of  a  large  building  for  the  institute, 
as  the  school  was  to  be  called. 


KENTUCKY  WESLEYAN  COLLEGE.  127 

When  conference  met  in  Millersburg,  in  September  of  that  year,  it 
caught,  as  it  were,  more  strongly  than  ever  the  spirit  of  education  then 
in  the  air  there,  and  its  committee  on  education,  of  which  Dr.  Stevenson 
was  a  member,  proposed  to  the  stockholders  of  the  institute  that,  if 
they  would  enlarge  the  building  and  present  it  to  the  Conference,  that 
body  would  endow  the  institution  with  $100,000,  and  make  it  a  male 
college.  This  offer  was  promptly  accepted  by  the  stockholders,  most 
of  whom  doubled  their  subscriptions  in  order  to  aid  in  carrying  it  out. 
The  grounds,  incomplete  foundations,  and  all  the  funds  of  the  institute 
were  at  once  turned  over  to  the  representatives  of  the  Conference  for 
the  new  college,  which  was  intended  to  be  of  high  grade  and  was  to 
be  nuder  the  patronage  of  the  church,  the  purpose  in  view  in  its  founda- 
tion being  u  the  promotion  of  literature,  science,  morality,  and  religion."1 

The  corner  stone  of  the  main  building  of  the  intended  institution  was 
laid,  with  impressive  ceremonies,  during  that  session  of  the  Conference, 
Bishop  Kavauaugh  and  others  delivering  addresses.  Under  the  super- 
vision of  the  former  building  committee,  which  was  continued  in  office, 
the  building  was  soon  again  under  way,  although  it  was  not  entirely 
completed  for  about  two  years.  It  cost  when  complete  $30,000,  and 
could  furnish  excellent  accommodations  for  from  150  to  200  students. 

The  session  of  conference  which  projected  the  new  institution  also 
appointed  an  agent  to  secure  subscriptions  and  donations  for  its  sup- 
port. By  the  autumn  of  1859,  $57,000  in  cash  and  good  notes  had  been 
secured  for  this  purpose,  and,  as  the  success  of  the  enterprise  seemed 
assured,  on  January  12,  1860,  a  charter  was  secured  for  the  college, 
placing  it  under  the  control  of  a  board  of  education  composed  of  twelve 
members,  half  lay  and  half  clerical,  one-third  of  whom  were  to  be 
chosen  each  year  by  the  conference.  To  these  were  given  by  the  char- 
ter all  the  usual  corporate  and  academic  powers  and  privileges  needed 
to  conduct  an  institution  of  liberal  culture.  The  first  board  had  as 
members  Rev.  W.  C.  Dandy,  Rev.  Daniel  Stevenson,  Rev.  J.  H.  Linn, 
Rev.  J.  W.  Cunningham,  Rev.  J.  C.  Harrion,  Rev.  Robert  Hiner,  David 
Thornton,  Moreau  Brown,  Hiram  Shaw,  B.  P.  Tevis,  William  Nimn, 
and  A.  Gr.  Stitt.  The  name  Kentucky  Wesleyan  University  was  first 
adopted  for  the  institution,  but  Kentucky  Wesleyau  College  has  since 
been  substituted. 

A  high  school  was  opened  in  the  autumn  of  1859  in  the  town  hall  of 
Millersburg,  as  the  college  building  was  then  not  ready  for  occupancy, 
under  Prof.  A.  G.  Murphey,  for  a  number  of  years  subsequently  a 
member  of  the  faculty  of  Kentucky  Wesleyan  and  Millersburg  Female 
colleges  and  the  present  president  of  Logan  Female  College.  It  was 
expected  to  add  a  collegiate  department  soon,  but  as  the  civil  war 
came  on  this  did  not  take  place  until  1866.  Professor  Murphey  taught 
until  April,  1862,  when  he  resigned  on  account  of  bad  health,  and  the 
school  was  closed  temporarily.  Professor  Murphey  during  this  time 


Perriu's  History  of  Bourbon,  Scott,  Harrison,  and  Nicholas  counties,  page  128. 


128  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

bad  as  assistant  teachers  Benjamin  Ashbrook,  J.  F.  Neal,  John  W. 
Craig,  and  Joseph  T.  Outen,  there  being  one  assistant  the  first  year, 
two  the  second,  and  three  the  third.  Seventy-five  pupils  were  in 
attendance  the  first  year  and  100  the  second,  over  30  of  the  latter  being 
from  a  distance.  The  attendance  was  fair  during  the  third  year,  as  up 
to  that  time  it  had  not  been  largely,  at  least  locally,  affected  by  the 
war.  On  December  5,  I860,  the  school  had  been  moved  to  its  new 
building,  some  of  the  rooms  of  which  had  then  been  completed. 

In  October,  1863,  the  school  was  reopened  by  Prof.  T.  J.  Dodd,  who 
had  been  elected  principal  by  conference  in  the  previous  September. 
Professor  Dodd  was  assisted  by  his  brother,  Virginius  Dodd,  and 
remained  in  charge  until  the  middle  of  the  next  scholastic  year,  when 
he  resigned,  the  second  year  being  finished  out  by  Eev.  Duke  Slouus, 
upon  the  appointment  of  conference,  Eev.  H.  W.  Abbett  and  Eev. 
S.  L.  Robertson  were  then  joint  principals  of  the  school  for  a  year. 

In  September,  1865,  most  of  the  first  board  of  education  having 
resigned,  a  new  board  then  appointed,  after  deciding  that  the  funds  on 
hand  justified  it,  determined  to  open  the  collegiate  department  at  an 
early  date.  After  considerable  canvassing,  in  the  spring  and  summer 
of  1866,  Eev.  Charles  Taylor,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  was  selected  by  them  as  the 
first  president  of  the  college,  under  whom  the  institution  was  regularly 
opened  in  the  autumn  of  that  year.  Since  that  time  Kentucky  Wes- 
leyan  College  has  had  a  continuous  existence. 

The  college  faculty,  as  announced  in  its  first  annual  catalogue,  was 
constituted  as  follows :  Eev.  Charles  Taylor,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  president,  also 
professor  of  mental  and  moral  philosophy  and  evidences  of  revealed  reli- 
gion; A.  Gr.  Murphey,  A.  M.,  professor  of  logic  and  English  literature 
and  adjunct  professor  of  natural  sciences;  Eev.  H.  W.  Abbett,  A.  M., 
professor  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages  and  literatures;  Charles  H. 
Theiss,  A.  M.,  professor  of  mathematics  and  natural  sciences.  Theo- 
logical department:  Eev.  S.  L.  Eobertsou,  professor  of  Hebrew  and 
Biblical  literature.  President  Taylor  remained  in  office  until  1870, 
when  he  resigned.  The  first  year  of  his  administration  there  were  90 
students  in  attendance  and  the  last  year  144,  the  latter  being  the 
largest  matriculation  the  college  has  had  until  comparatively  recent 
years.  Classical  and  scientific  courses  of  instruction  were  instituted 
from  the  beginning,  and  in  1868  the  first  bachelor  of  science  degree 
was  conferred.  In  1869,  2  A.  B.'s  were  granted,  and  in  1870  5  A.  B.'s 
and  2  B.  S.'s. 

Dr.  Taylor's  successor  in  the  presidency  of  the  college  was  Eev.  B. 
Arbogast.  About  the  beginning  of  his  administration  the  West  Vir- 
ginia Conference  was  invited  by  the  Kentucky  Conference  to  become 
part  owner  of  the  college  and  give  it  their  patronage.  They  contrib- 
uted a  small  amount  toward  building  a  dormitory,  and  for  a  number  of 
years  were  given  two  representatives  on  the  board  of  education.  These 
have,  however,  recently  been  replaced  by  two  members  selected  from 


KENTUCKY  WESLEY  AN  COLLEGE.  129 

the  alumni  of  the  college.  The  name  board  of  curators  has  also  been 
substituted  for  that  of  board  of  education. 

In  June,  1872,  President  Arbogast,  by  reason  of  the  pressure  of 
other  engagements,  resigned,  and  was  succeeded  by  Prof.  John  Darby, 
A.  M.,  Ph.  D.,  who  had  been  professor  of  natural  science  in  the  col- 
lege for  two  years  already,  and  a  teacher  of  advanced  reputation  for 
nearly  forty.  Professor  Darby  resigned  the  presidency  in  1875,  and 
Eev.  T.  J.  Dodd,  D.  D.,  was  then  elected  to  the  position.  President 
Dodd,  however,  left  the  institution  at  the  end  of  a  year  to  accept  a 
professorship  in  Vanderbilt  University,  then  newly  established.  Rev. 
W.  H.  Anderson,  D.  D.,  then  became  president  of  Kentucky  Wesleyan, 
which  position  he  retained  for  three  years. 

During  President  Anderson's  administration  the  course  of  instruc- 
tion was  modified  to  some  extent,  the  previous  scientific  course  being 
lengthened  somewhat  and  a  course  leading  to  the  degree  of  bachelor  of 
philosophy  instituted.  The  college  also  received  by  gift  the  valuable 
herbarium  and  scientific  library  of  Professor  Darby.  There  were  at 
this  period  5  teachers  and  a  maximum  of  about  90  students  in  the  insti- 
tution, the  average  attendance  being  considerably  below  this  number. 
Since  1870  there  had  been  from  two  to  six  graduates  each  year,  and 
in  the  nine  years  22  A.  B.7s,  11  B.  S.'s,  and  1  Ph.  B.  had  been  conferred. 

Upon  the  resignation  of  President  Anderson,  in  1879,  D.  W.  Batsou, 
A.  M.,  an  alumnus  of  the  college  in  the  class  of  1874,  and  since  then 
its  professor  of  mathematics,  was  put  at  the  head  of  the  institution. 
President  Batson  was  quite  a  young  man  at  the  time  of  his  appoint- 
ment, and  had  associated  with  him  a  faculty  also  of  young  men,  mainly 
alumni  of  the  institution.  He  was,  however,  thoroughly  interested  in 
his  work  and  soon  succeeded,  with  the  cooperation  of  his  colleagues, 
in  restoring  the  institution  to  something  of  its  early  prosperity,  its 
average  attendance  being  almost  doubled  within  the  first  two  years 
after  his  election.  He  was  the  presiding  officer  of  the  college  up  to 
1894,  with  the  exception  of  the  scholastic  year  1883-84,  when  Eev.  Alex- 
ander Eedd,  A.  M.,  was  president. 

During  these  fifteen  years  several  events  of  importance  took  place  in 
the  history  of  the  college.  In  1884,  the  valuable  library  of  Bishop 
Kavanaugh  and  also  that  of  Eev.  S.  L.  Eobertson  were  donated  to  the 
college.  These,  together  with  its  previous  nucleus,  formed  the  founda- 
tion of  a  good  collection  for  the  future,  the  lack  of  which  had  previously 
been  much  felt,  for  while  the  institution  had  always  maintained  a  high 
standard  in  its  courses  and  had  kept  itself  well  supplied  with  apparatus, 
in  the  department  of  natural  science  especially,  its  educational  equip- 
ment in  other  respects,  outside  of  a  fairly  good  building,  had  not  been 
of  the  first  order. 

President  Batson  was  able  to  keep  up  the  matriculation  fairly  well 
and  the  college  prospered,  but  its  enlargement  in  the  future  was  not 
hopeful  and  its  work  was  much  crippled  for  lack  of  sufficient  funds. 
2127— No.  25 9 


130  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

The  original  endowment  was  never  large,  the  productive  funds,  in  1882, 
only  aggregating  about  $32,000,'  and  although  several  agents  had  at 
different -times  been  appointed  to  solicit  further  means,  they  had  been 
able  to  accomplish  little  or  nothing.  The  endowment  the  college  did 
have  was  also  much  less  effective  than  it  would  otherwise  have  been, 
because  it  had  been  secured  on  the  basis  of  allowing  a  free  scholarship 
for  comparatively  small  amounts  contributed. 

Owing  to  this  state  of  affairs,  the  board  of  education,  in  September, 
1886,  presented  to  the  conference  a  plan  arranging  that  proposals  be 
invited  from  any  and  all  places  in  the  bounds  of  the  conference  looking 
toward  the  future  relocation  of  the  college,  in  order  that  it  might  secure 
the  largest  facilities  and  the  most  favorable  conditions.  Conference  at 
once  appointed  a  commission  to  receive,  examine,  and  accept  or  reject 
any  such  proposal.  This  commission,  on  July  12, 1887,  voted  to  accept 
the  offer  of  the  citizens  of  Winchester  and  Clark  County,  who  had  that 
summer  agreed  to  present  to  the  institution  a  campus  of  eight  acres  of 
ground  lying  within  the  corporate  limits  of  Winchester  and  $12,000  in 
cash  for  new  buildings  and  general  equipment.  This  decision  was 
afterward  ratified  by  the  board  of  education  and  by  the  conference,  and 
the  college  was  removed  to  Winchester,  where  it  was  first  opened  on 
September  3.  1890,  since  which  time  it  has  entered  upon  a  new  era. 
During  the  period  from  1879  to  1890  there  had  been  from  3  to  9  gradu- 
ates each  year  and  the  following  regular  degrees  had  been  granted: 
35  A.  B.'s,  15  B.  S.'s,  5  Ph.  B.?s?  and  2  A.  M.'s. 

AT  WINCHESTER. 

As  its  building  at  its  new  location  was  not  ready  for  occupancy  at 
the  time  of  the  removal,  the  college  occupied  temporary  quarters  in  a 
private  residence  in  1890-91,  when  it  had  4  regular  professors  and  122 
students  were  matriculated. 

The  new  main  building  was  sufficiently  completed  to  be  occupied  in 
the  autumn  of  1891.  It  is  a  handsome  structure,  built  of  brick  with 
stone  trimmings,  and  is  very  complete  in  its  appointments,  having  fif- 
teen rooms,  all  commodious  and  arranged  with  reference  to  the  most 
approved  methods  in  educational  work.  In  1891-92  a  new  professor 
was  added  to  the  faculty,  the  work  in  the  scientific  department  espe- 
cially being  further  subdivided  and  specialized.  At  the  end  of  this 
year  the  character  of  work  done  by  the  institution  was  further  enlarged 
by  the  introduction  of  coeducation,  young  women  being  admitted  to  its 
course  upon  the  same  terms  as  young  men.  About  the  same  time,  or 
soon  after,  a  special  English  course  of  two  years,  a  business  course  of 
one  year,  and  a  common-school  teacher's  course  of  one  year  were  added 
to  the  previous  curriculum  for  those  who  could  only  attend  for  a  limited 
time  and  were  not  candidates  for  a  degree,  an  instructor  in  shorthand 
and  typewriting  being  then  added  to  the  faculty. 

History  of  Bourbon,  Scott,  Harrison,  and  Nicholas  counties,  p.  129. 


KENTUCKY    WESLEYAN    COLLEGE.  131 

While  its  matriculation  was  somewhat  larger  than  before,  the  opera- 
tions of  the  college  were  considerably  embarrassed  and  its  prospects 
hindered  during  its  first  four  years  at  Winchester  by  the  litigation  in 
which  it  was  involved  througli  those  who  were  opposed  to  its  removal 
from  Millersburg,  and  \vho  appealed  to  the  courts  against  that  step. 
This  contest  was  finally  settled  in  1894  by  a  decision  in  favor  of  the 
present  location,  a  result  which  has  materially  conduced  to  the  subse- 
quent prosperity  of  the  institution.  In  this  year,  also,  Mr.  Batson 
retired  from  the  presidency,  after  fifteen  years'  faithful  and  efficient 
service  in  that  position.  He  has  since  continued  to  be  one  of  the 
members  of  the  regular  faculty. 

In  1894-95  Prof.  B.  T.  Spencer  was  chairman  of  the  faculty,  the  next 
regular  president,  Rev.  E.  H.  Pearce,  D.  D.,  being  elected  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  year.  President  Pearce  was  formally  installed  on  June  4, 
1895,  and  entered  auspiciously  upon  his  administration.  The  college 
has  since  made  a  distinct  advance.  During  the  first  year  of  his  term 
the  main  building  was  finished  and  newly  furnished  throughout  at  a 
cost  of  $8,000,  while  extensive  additions  were  made  to  the  apparatus  in 
the  departments  of  chemistry  and  physics.  Soon  after  this  a  hall  in  the 
main  building  set  apart  as  a  gymnasium  was  equipped  with  the  latest 
and  best  appliances  for  physical  exercise. 

The  most  marked  enlargement  of  late  has  been  in  the  founding  of 
preparatory  schools,  under  the  control  of  the  college,  in  different  parts 
of  the  Kentucky  Conference.  Besides  the  preparatory  department 
connected  with  the  college  in  Winchester  and  another  operated  in  the 
old  building  at  Millersburg,  three  others  have  been  established  at 
Campton,  Burnside,  and  London,  important  points  in  the  eastern  part 
of  the  State.  Campton  Academy  was  opened  on  January  1,  1896; 
Burnside  Academy  on  September  1, 1896,  and  the  academy  at  London, 
called  Bennett  Memorial  Academy,  in  September,  1897. 

These  schools  make  quarterly  reports  to  the  college,  of  whose  faculty 
their  principals  are  considered  members,  and  prepare  students  for  the 
sophomore  class.  They  are  also  training  schools  for  teachers  for  the 
portion  of  the  State  in  which  they  are  located.  They  all  have  excellent 
buildings,  for  the  erection  and  equipment  of  which  about  $30,000  has 
recently  been  contributed  by  friends  of  the  college,  part  of  it  by  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  New  dormitories  for  the  acad- 
emies at  Campton  and  Burnside  have  recently  been  projected,  and 
arrangements  are  now  in  progress  for  the  erection  of  a  new  $10,000 
dormitory  on  the  college  campus  at  Winchester.  Material  additions  to 
the  endowment  of  the  college  have  also  been  made  in  the  last  three 
years,  and  plans  are  now  under  way  which  it  is  hoped  will  cause  its 
property  and  funds,  now  about  $100,000  in  value,  to  reach  $250,000  in 
the  next  five  years. 

In  1895  the  faculty  was  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  special  lecturers 
on  church  history,  on  the  Bible,  and  on  civics,  and  in  1896  an  instructor 
in  elocution  was  appointed.  The  matriculation  of  the  institution  has 


132  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

also  recently  increased,  there  being  154  students  in  the  college  proper 
in  1894-95  and  a  total  of  448  in  college  and  academies  together  in 
1897-98.  The  number  of  graduates  has  increased  in  like  manner, 
nineteen  degrees  having  been  conferred  in  the  last  three  years. 

Kentucky  Wesleyan  College  has  always  been  able  to  maintain  an 
able  faculty,  and  its  standard  of  classical  and  scientific  education  has 
been  high.  It  has  consequently  occupied  a  worthy  place  among  similar 
institutions  of  learning  in  the  State,  and  has  turned  out  many  well- 
equipped  graduates  who  have  taken  an  honorable  rank  in  the  various 
professions  and  callings  of  life,  the  ministry  being  more  largely  repre- 
sented than  any  other  profession.  Its  students  have  recently  main- 
tained an  excellent  standing  in  eastern  institutions,  where  they  have 
gone  to  pursue  special  and  advanced  work.  The  total  number  of 
graduates  up  to  1898,  inclusive,  is  169,  of  whom  about  30  have  entered 
the  ministry,  about  25  the  law,  quite  a  number  teaching,  while  medi- 
cine and  other  vocations  are  well  represented.  Many  of  those  who 
spent  a  time  at  the  college,  but  took  no  degrees,  are  occupying  impor- 
tant places  in  church  and  state. 

The  curriculum  of  the  institution  is  divided  into  the  following  schools 
of  instruction :  Latin,  Greek,  German,  French,  English,  mathematics, 
chemistry  and  biology,  physics  and  astronomy,  history  and  political 
science,  psychology  and  ethics,  theistic  and  Christian  evidences,  Bible 
study,  bookkeeping  and  commercial  science,  and  shorthand  and  type- 
writing. The  completion  of  eleven  out  of  the  first  twelve  of  these  schools 
leads  to  the  two  regular  degrees  of  bachelor  of  arts'  and  bachelor  of 
science,  the  former  requiring  the  school  of  Greek,  while  the  latter 
substitutes  German  and  French  for  Greek.  There  are  also  the  special 
courses  already  indicated  and  an  academic  or  preparatory  course  of 
three  years  in  length.  The  present  faculty,  in  addition  to  the  princi- 
pals of  the  various  preparatory  schools,  two  instructors  in  elocution 
and  in  shorthand  and  typewriting,  respectively,  and  two  special  lec- 
turers, the  one  on  Bible  history  and  literature,  and  the  other  on  civics, 
has  the  following  regular  professors  and  officers:  Rev.  E.  H.  Pearce, 
A.  M.,  D.  D.  president  and  professor  of  psychology  and  ethics  5  D.  W. 
Batson,  A.  M.,  professor  of  natural  science;  B.  T.  Spencer,  A.  M.,  pro- 
fessor of  Greek  and  instructor  in  German;  W.  H.  Garuett,  Ph.  D., 
Abram  Megowan  professor  of  mathematics  and  instructor  in  French; 
Marvin  West,  A.  M.,  professor  of  Latin  and  history. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Collins's  and  Smith's  histories,  Henderson's  Centennial  Exhibit. 

A  History  of  Bourbon,  Scott,  Harrison,  and  Nicholas  Counties,  by  W.  H.  Perrin, 
Chicago,  1882  (contains  a  sketch  of  the  college  by  President  Batson). 

A  Manuscript  History  of  Kentucky  Wesleyan  College,  by  Rev.  John  Jay  Dickey. 

Installation  exercises  and  inaugural  of  E.  H.  Pearce,  D.  D.,  as  president  of  Kentucky 
Wesley  an  College,  Winchester,  1895. 

1  The  degree  of  A.  M.  is  conferred  on  bachelors  of  arts  who  pursue  some  literary 
profession  for  three  years  and  present  a  satisfactory  thesis. 


ST.  MARY'S  COLLEGE.  133 

ST.  MARY'S  COLLEGE,  MARION  COUNTY. 

St.  Mary's  is  the  oldest  and  most  important  Catholic  male  college 
now  in  existence  in  Kentucky,  and  is  one  of  the  oldest,  if  not  the  old- 
est, of  its  kind  in  the  Mississippi  Yalley.  It  had  its  own  beginning  in 
1821  aud  in  a  way  now  has  a  right  to  have  the  date  of  its  origin  made 
about  two  years  earlier,  as  it  was  in  1890  made  in  a  sense  the  legal 
successor  of  St.  Joseph's  College  at  Bardstown,  Ky.,  its  older  and  in 
some  respects  more  celebrated  colleague,  whose  history  will  be  sketched 
in  another  chapter.  There  we  shall  find  that  the  foundation  of  St. 
Joseph's  was  largely  due  to  the  efforts  of  Eev.  G.  A.  M.  Elder;  St. 
Mary's,  in  a  still  more  eminent  degree,  owes  its  existence  to  the  self- 
sacrificing  exertions  and  the  energy  of  one  man,  Eev.  William  Byrne, 
and  it  is  rather  remarkable  that  these  two  men  should  have  been 
ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  their  church  at  the  same  time,  a  ceremony 
which  occurred  in  the  cathedral  at  Bardstown,  Ky.,  on  September  18, 
1819.1 

Father  Byrne  was  born  in  Ireland  in  1780.  His  talents  were  not 
brilliant  nor  his  education  extended,  but  he  was  noted  for  his  industry 
and  application.  He  had  not  the  means  of  obtaining  an  advanced 
education  in  early  life,  but  after  coming  to  America  had  studied  for  a 
time  at  St.  Mary's  College,  Emmittsburg,  Mel.,  where  he  held  the  posi- 
tion of  prefect  of  discipline.  On  coming  to  Kentucky  and  seeing  the 
pressing  need  of  educational  institutions,  he  determined  to  found,  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  hour,  a  school  for  boys  similar  to  the  school  for 
girls  lately  established  at  Loretto. 

He  set  to  work  with  his  characteristic  energy,  only  waiting  long 
enough  to  obtain  the  bishop's  permission.  Without  money  or  anyone 
specially  to  help  him,  he  purchased  a  farm  in  Marion  County  about  5 
miles  from  where  Lebanon  now  stands,  which  had  been  occupied  for  a 
time  by  the  Sisters  of  Loretto,  and  which  Eev.  Charles  Kerinckx  had 
secured  in  1820  for  the  purpose  of  founding  a  new  Christian  brother- 
hood devoted  to  the  education  of  boys  and  had  named  St.  Mary's. 
This  Father  Byrne  obtained  possession  of  in  1821  by  means  of  funds 
partly  raised  by  subscription,  and  here  he  first  opened  a  school,  called 
St.  Mary's  Seminary,  in  the  early  spring  of  that  year  in  an  old  stone 
distillery  fitted  up  with  rough  furniture  partly  made  by  his  own  hand. 

The  school  soon  became  popular  and  so  increased  in  numbers  as  to 
speedily  outgrow  its  old  quarters.  For  the  accommodation  of  its 
patrons,  who  were  then  mainly  the  farmers  of  the  neighborhood,  its 
tuition  fees  were  largely  paid  in  produce,  which  Father  Byrne  partly 
converted  into  money  and  partly  exchanged  for  labor,  and  by  this 
means  soon  paid  for  the  farm,  and  by  1825  had  erected  a  modest  new 
building  at  a  cost  of  $4,000. 

Unfortunately  just  as  this  structure  was  nearing  completion,  and 
while  Father  Byrne  was  in  Louisville  completing  arrangements  for  that 

1  Allen's  History  of  Kentucky,  p.  173. 


134  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

purpose,  it  was  burned,  but  was  reerected  within  a  few  months  under 
the  personal  supervision  and  partly  by  the  labor  of  its  founder.  The 
school  was  peculiarly  unfortunate  in  this  respect,  as  hardly  had  the 
debt  incurred  by  the  first  fire  been  paid  and  the  wing  of  an  additional 
building  nearly  completed  when  it,  too,  was  destroyed  by  fire;  but — 

Nothing  daunted,  Father  Byrne  rebuilt  the  burnt  edifice  on  an  enlarged  plan,  and 
in  a  few  years  was  able  by  patient  industry  and  rigid  economy  to  pay  all  its  debts 
and  to  place  the  institution  on  a  firm  and  enduring  foundation. ' 

That  he  was  able  to  do  this  entirely  from  tuition  fees  at  the  very 
moderate  rate  of  $G  per  session  is  a  high  tribute  to  his  financial  manage 
ment  and  to  the  popularity  of  the  seminary.  This  popularity  was  due 
largely  to  its  cheap  tuition,  its  good  discipline,  and  excellent  teaching. 
There  Avere  early  in  its  history  120  students  in  its  classes  and  its 
numbers  during  Father  Byrne's  administration  are  said  to  have  been 
all  that  its  limited  quarters  could  accommodate,  and  students  had  to 
apply  a  whole  year  in  advance  in  order  to  secure  admission.  During 
the  first  twelve  years  of  its  existence  it  educated,  either  completely  or 
partially,  at  least  1,200  youths,  among  whom  may  especially  be  men- 
tioned Martin  J.  Spalding,  subsequently  archbishop  of  Baltimore,  who 
was  its  professor  of  mathematics  at  14  years  of  age,  two  years  before 
his  graduation,  and  was  famous  for  his  solution  of  difficult  mathemati- 
cal problems. 

Never  was  an  institution,  for  the  same  length  of  time,  more  completely 
the  work  of  one  man,  as  Father  Byrne  was  not  only  its  financial  stay, 
but  he  was  much  more. 

He  formed  himself  the  teachers  who  were  to  aid  him  in  carrying  on  the  work  of 
the  college.  He  originated  everything.  He  was  president,  chief  disciplinarian, 
principal  professor,  procurator,  missionary,  everything  at  the  same  time.2 

He  was  greatly  assisted  in  the  work  of  instruction  by  the  advanced 
students,  who  in  their  turn  became  teachers. 

The  spirit  in  which  all  his  efforts  had  been  put  forth  is  well  shown 
by  the  fact  that  when  negotiations  were  begun  in  1830  looking  toward 
the  transfer  of  the  institution  to  the  control  of  the  order  of  Jesuits  he 
cheerfully  acceded  to  their  assuming  possession,  because  he  saw  that 
other  colleges  were  beginning  to  offer  superior  advantages  and  he  con- 
sidered the  Jesuits,  by  reason  of  their  greater  resources  and  higher 
scholarship,  better  calculated  than  he  to  conduct  the  seminary  success- 
fully. These  negotiations  were  completed  in  the  latter  part  of  1831,3 
but,  by  request,  Father  Byrne  remained  at  the  head  of  the  school, 
Fathers  Gilles,  Lagouais,  and  McGuire  being  associated  with  him  in 
1832  in  its  management.  Father  Byrne  died  of  cholera  in  1833,  and 
then  the  Jesuits  took  exclusive  control  of  the  institution. 

1  Spalding's  Early  Catholic  Missions,  p.  267. 
2Spalding's  Life  and  Times  of  Bishop  Flaget,  p.  300. 

3This  date  is  usually  given  as  1832,  but  extracts  from  the  private  papers  of  the 
Jesuits,  furnished  by  President  Fehrenbach,  show  it  to  have  been  1831. 


ST.  MARY'S  COLLEGE.  135 

The  seminary  was  opened  under  their  supervision  in  September,  1833, 
and  had  as  its  new  president  Rev.  Peter  Chazelle,  S.  J.,  who  was  a 
native  of  France,  and  a  man  of  great  energy  and  perseverance.  The 
institution  was  then  regularly  organized  as  a  college  and  President 
Chazelle  was  assisted  by  a  faculty  composed  of  Fathers  Nicholas  Petit, 
Thomas  Legouais,  Vital  Gilles,  Simon  Fouche,  and  Evremond  Harris- 
sart,  all  Frenchmen  and  men  of  high  literary  education  and  pronounced 
ability.  Under  the  new  order  of  things  pupils  came  in  from  all  direc- 
tions, and  the  prospects  for  the  future  were  bright,  but  the  session  of 
1833-34  was  hardly  well  begun  before  the  fire  fiend  descended  upon 
the  institution  for  the  third  time  and  sent  many  of  the  students  to  their 
homes  by  destroying  the  main  building.  This  was,  however,  restored 
within  a  single  month,  and  not  long  afterwards,  from  the  revenue  aris- 
ing from  increased  patronage,  another  wing  was  added. 

In  1836  the  faculty  of  the  institution  was  much  strengthened  by  the 
addition  of  Fathers  William  G.  Murphy  and  Nicholas  Point,  who  came 
over  from  the  provincial  headquarters  of  the  order  at  Lyons,  France, 
having  been  sent  for  by  President  Chazelle.  Father  Murphy  was  at 
first  the  college  professor  of  English  literature,  and  was  noted  for  his 
accomplishments  in  that  department.  On  January  21,  1837,1  mainly 
through  his  influence  and  that  of  Eev.  Robert  Abel,  a  charter  for  the 
institution  was  obtained  from  the  State  legislature  which  conferred  upon 
it  all  of  the  usual  collegiate  powers  and  privileges.  In  this  year  also 
the  faculty  was  further  enlarged  by  the  arrival  of  Fathers  Augustus 
Thebaud  and  Peter  Lebreton. 

In  1839  Father  Murphy  succeeded  Father  Chazelle  as  president  of 
the  college,  and  Father  William  Larkin,  a  man  of  great  natural  gifts 
and  of  profound  and  varied  learning,  joined  the  corps  of  professors. 
Father  Murphy  continued  at  the  head  of  the  institution  during  the 
remainder  of  the  period  of  Jesuit  control,  which  extended  to  1846. 
During  this  period  the  prosperity  of  the  college  was  uninterrupted.  It 
not  only  continued  to  flourish,  but  soon  grew  in  such  a  way  that  its 
patronage  was  only  restricted  by  the  limited  capacity  of  its  buildings, 
which,  being  situated  in  the  country,  had  to  furnish  boarding,  as  well 
:as  educational  accommodations. 

Students  during  this  era  came  from  all  parts  of  the  United  States, 
the  West  Indies,  Mexico,  and  even  South  America.  In  1836  and  for 
several  years  later  the  reputation  of  the  fathers  attracted  students  from 
many  of  the  most  influential  families  of  Kentucky  and  the  surrounding 
States,  most  of  whom  were  Protestants,  that  element  largely  predomi- 
nating at  this  time  in  the  history  of  the  institution.  In  addition  to 
those  already  mentioned  as  having  come  over  from  France  to  join  the 
faculty,  Fathers  De  Luynes  and  Gockeln  came  out  later,  so  that  in  1842 
the  teaching  body  of  the  institution  was  a  very  able  one. 

One  feature  of  the  history  of  the  college  during  this  period  is  that, 
according  to  a  rule  established  by  Father  Byrne  and  continued  during 


Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  41. 


136  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

the  Jesuit  era,  every  student  was  required  to  work  on  the  college  farm 
for  one  day  a  week.  This  farm,  which  was  an  important  adjunct  to 
the  institution  in  the  way  of  furnishing  food  products  and  additional 
revenue,  had  been  enlarged,  in  1838,  by  the  purchase  of  an  adjoining 
estate  so  as  to  accommodate  the  increased  number  of  students.  The 
authorities  seem  to  have  been  quite  successful  in  getting  the  students 
to  cheerfully  comply  with  this  regulation,  as  well  as  to  perform  such 
other  tasks  as  looking  after  the  tallow  candles,  with  which,  at  that 
time,  the  college  study-hall  was  lighted. 

The  commencement  exercises  of  this  era  were  attractive  events  for 
the  surrounding  country.  Original  dramas,  written  by  Father  Chazelle, 
or  some  other  member  of  the  faculty,  were  usually  performed,  and  in 
order  to  accommodate  the  visitors  the  exercises  were  usually  held  in 
the  open  air,  a  suitable  spot  having  been  chosen  in  the  primeval  forest, 
where  a  stage,  adorned  with  drapery  and  appropriate  scenery,  was 
erected  on  the  rising  slope,  in  front  of  which  temporary  seats,  cover- 
ing a  whole  acre  or  more  of  ground,  were  arranged  for  the  vast  audi- 
ence. In  1846,  owing  to  some  misunderstanding  with  the  local  diocesan 
authorities,  the  Jesuits  left  St.  Mary's  for  what  they  considered  wider 
fields  of  usefulness  at  St.  John's  College,  Fordham,  N.  Y.,  their  depar- 
ture being  widely  regretted  by  the  friends  of  St.  Mary's. 

Before  this  time  every  State  in  the  South  and  West  had  become  rep- 
resented in  the  catalogue  of  that  college,  and  she  had  sent  out  a  num- 
ber of  alumni,  scattered  all  over  that  region  especially.  Many  of  these 
have  since  risen  to  prominence  in  various  professions  and  callings  in 
life,  among  them  being  governors,  Congressmen,  circuit  judges,  writers 
of  merit,  and  others  of  reputation  in  other  fields. 

When  the  Jesuits  left  St.  Mary's,  in  1846,  the  institution  was  again 
turned  over  to  the  secular  clergy,  under  the  supervision  of  the  bishop 
of  the  diocese.  We  are  informed l  that  at  that  time  its  buildings  were 
extensive  and  handsome  and  its  library  contained  5,000  volumes,  while 
its  faculty  numbered  8  instructors  and  its  enrollment  was  125  students. 
The  secular  clergy  took  charge  in  1847,  and  under  their  management 
the  college  was  successful  and  useful  for  twenty-two  years. 

The  following  is  the  list  of  the  presidents  of  the  institution  from 
1847  to  1869,  with  their  terms  of  office:  Eev.  Julian  Delaune, 
1847-1849;  Eev.  John  McGuire,  1849-1851;  Eev.  John  B.  Hutchins, 
1851-1853;  Eev.  Francis  Lawler,  1853-1856  ;2  Eev.  P.  J.  Lavialle, 
1856-1865;  Eev.  A.  Yiala,  1865-1869.  The  following  is  a  similar  list 
for  the  same  period  of  the  vice-presidents  of  the  institution,  who  had 
a  considerable  share  in  its  management :  Eev.  Francis  Lawler,  1849-1853 ; 
Eev.  Michael  £5oghlan,  1853-1855;  Eev.  Edmund  Driscoll,  1855-56; 

1  Collins's  Sketches  of  Kentucky,  p.  426. 

2  Father  Hutchins  was  again  president  in  the  latter  part  of  1855-56,  when  he  took 
the  place  of  Father  Lawler. 


ST.  MARY'S  COLLEGE.  137 

Eev.  Joseph  H.  Elder,  1856-57 ;*  Eev.  A.  Yiala,  1857-1865;  Eev.  T.  J. 
Disney,  1865-1869. 

Of  the  presidential  administrations  of  this  era,  that  of  President 
Hutchins  is  especially  noteworthy,  because  the  college  was  under  him 
again  put  on  a  souud  financial  footing.  Among  the  alumni  of  this 
period,  at  least  one  rose  to  the  dignity  of  a  bishop  in  his  church,  and 
others  obtained  repute  in  other  vocations.  In  1869,  on  account  of 
financial  embarrassment  it  was  found  necessary  to  close  the  time- 
honored  institution  for  two  years;  during  this  period  its  lands  were 
leased  to  a  farmer  of  the  neighborhood. 

This  gloom  in  the  history  of  the  college  was,  however,  soon  dispelled 
and  a  new  era  for  it  began  when,  in  September,  1871,  upon  the  invita- 
tion of  the  Eight  Eev.  William  G.  McClosky,  bishop  of  Louisville,  it 
was  reopened  by  a  new  and  vigorous  teaching  order,  the  Fathers  of  the 
Eesurrection,2  under  the  leadership  of  Eev.  Louis  Elena,  C.  E.,  D.  D. 
Father  Elena  was  assisted  by  a  select  corps  of  lay,  secular,  and 
religous  officers,  and  remained  at  the  head  of  the  institution  until  1873, 
during  which  time  repairs  and  improvements  were  made  on  the  build- 
ings and  grounds,  and  all  the  former  rights  and  privileges  of  the  insti- 
tution were  confirmed  under  the  new  order  of  things  by  an  amendment 
to  the  charter,  secured  in  1872. 

In  1873,  one  of  the  "most  successful  presidents  in  the  history  of  the 
college  came  into  office  in  the  person  of  Eev.  David  Fennessy,  C.  E., 
who  held  the  position  continuously  for  twenty-four  years,  with  the 
exception  of  a  period  of  two  years.  Under  his  management  the  stand- 
ard of  discipline  and  scholarship  was  raised  and  his  well-chosen  corps 
of  professors,  together  with  his  own  prestige  as  a  scholar  and  educator 
soon  attracted  patronage  and  gained  the  confidence  of  the  people  of 
Kentucky  especially. 

The  history  of  the  college  during  and  since  his  administration  has 
been  one  of  substantial  improvement  and  expansion.  The  course  of 
instruction  was  developed  until,  in  1879,  it  included  a  classical  course 
of  five  years  in  length,  together  with  a  scientific  course  of  four  years 
and  a  commercial  course  of  three  years,  in  addition  to  a  preparatory 
department.  In  1882  a  military  department  was  added,  with  a  regular 
professor  of  military  tactics,  and  in  1883  a  professor  of  music  was 
attached  to  the  faculty.  There  had  been  up  to  this  time,  since  1873, 
an  average  matriculation  of  about  100  students,  and  the  number  of 
teachers  and  other  officers  connected  with  the  institution  had  been 
about  13  each  year. 

In  1884  a  fine  new  building  was  completed,  which  furnished  much 
better  and  larger  accommodations  for  students,  whose  numbers  have 
since  increased  considerably.  In  order  to  put  the  institution  on  a  solid 

1  Father  Elder  only  held  the  office  for  a  part  of  the  year  1856-57,  being  succeeded 
early  in  1857  by  Father  Viala. 

2  This  is  a  religious  order  of  the  Catholic  Church  one  of  whose  chief  objects  is  the 
imparting  of  education,  intellectual  and  moral. 


138  HISTORY   OF   HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

financial  basis  and  to  insure  its  incorporation  into  his  order,  Father 
Fennessy  succeeded  in  obtaining  from  the  Bishop  of  Louisville  a  deed 
in  fee  simple  to  the  college  property,  the  management  of  which  was 
vested  in  a  corporation  of  his  own  choosing,  composed  of  five  self- 
perpetuating  trustees;  he  also  secured  the  recognition  of  St.  Mary's 
as  the  official  Catholic  college  of  the  diocese.  This  was  accomplished 
in  August,  1890,  when,  by  the  action  of  the  Bishop,  St.  Joseph's  College, 
at  Bardstowu,  was  closed  for  a  period  of  twenty  years  in  order  that  St. 
Mary's  might  have  the  proper  opportunity  for  its  development,  as  these 
colleges  were  so  situated  as  necessarily  to  draw  their  students  largely 
from  the  same  limited  field,  by  which  each  was  thus  hindering  the 
progress  of  the  other. 

Tn  connection  with  the  new  arrangement,  the  curriculum  of  St.  Mary's 
was  strengthened,  the  classical  course  being  made  six  years  in  length, 
and  otherwise  enlarged. '  Additions  were  also  made  to  the  library  and 
scientific  apparatus,  and  other  steps  taken  to  make  the  institution  rank 
with  the  first  Catholic  colleges  of  the  land.  In  conducting  its  educa- 
tional work  its  corps  of  teachers  and  officers  are  selected  by  its  presi- 
dent, who  is  in  turn  appointed  by  the  superior- general  of  the  teaching 
order  which  controls  the  institution. 

In  1893  other  improvements  were  made  in  the  college  property,  all 
of  its  buildings  being  renovated  and  their  interior  equipped  with  mod- 
ern appliances,  while  an  additional  mansard  story  was  placed  upon 
each  of  the  three  main  buildings.  In  the  fall  of  this  year  an  adjoining 
farm  was  also  purchased  and  added  to  the  college  farm,  which  now  con- 
tains about  450  acres  of  first-rate  land.  By  a  recent  decision l  of  the 
supreme  court  of  the  State  this  and  all  the  other  property  of  the  col- 
lege, without  limit,  is  exempted  from  taxation.  In  1893  Father  Fennessy 
retired  from  his  office  on  account  of  bad  health,  and  Eev.  John  L. 
Steifan,  C.  E.,  D.  D.,  Ph.  D.,  became  president.  In  the  fall  of  1895,  how- 
ever, Father  Fennessy  recovered  his  health  and  again  resumed  his 
position  at  the  head  of  the  institution,  where  he  remained  for  about 
two  years  longer,  resigning  finally  in  July,  1897. 

From  1871  to  1897  the  following  were  vice-presidents  of  the  college 
for  the  terms  indicated  by  the  appended  dates :  Eev.  D.  Fennessy,  C.  E., 
D.  D.,  1871-1873;  Eev.  E.  De  Carolis,  C.  E.,  1873-1879;  Eev.  A.  Yaghi, 
C.  E.,  1879-80;  Eev.  Y.  T.  Lanciotti,  C.  E.,  1880-1886;  Eev.  John 
Fehrenbach,  C.  E.,  D.  D.,  Ph.  D.,  1886-1897. 

When  Father  Fennessy  retired  from  the  presidency  in  1897,  Father 
Fehrenbach  became  his  successor.  At  the  same  time  Eev.  John  Kos- 
k  in  ski,  C.  E.,  became  vice-president. 

Father  Fehrenbach  was  born  in  Berlin,  Ontario,  in  1857  and  gradu- 
ated at  St.  Jerome  College  in  that  j)lace.  He  subsequently  received 
the  degrees  of  Ph.  D.  and  D.  D.  from  the  Eoman  University,  Eome, 

1  Case  of  the  Common  wealth  of  Kentucky  v.  Loretto  Literary  and  Benevolent 
Institution,  and  Same  v.  St.  Mary's  College. 


ST.  MARY'S  COLLEGE.  139 

Italy.  He  had  been  vice-president  of  the  college  since  1886,  and  being 
a  man  of  great  practical  ability  and  business  tact  had  ably  assisted 
the  successful  efforts  of  President  Fennessy  to  build  up  the  institution 
and  put  it  on  a  higher  and  more  enduring  basis. 

There  is  therefore  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  prosperity  of  the 
college  will  not  only  continue  but  enlarge  under  his  administration  as 
president.  In  fact  some  progressive  steps  have  already  been  taken. 
In  the  summer  of  1897  a  frame  gymnasium  was  erected  on  the  college 
campus,  and  in  November  of  that  year  a  collection  of  mineralogical 
specimens  and  Indian  relics  numbering  several  hundred  was  purchased 
for  the  institution.  In  that  year  also,  in  order  to  suit  the  depressed 
financial  condition  of  the  country  and  bring  the  benefits  of  the  institu- 
tion within  the  reach  of  as  many  as  possible,  the  prices  of  board  and 
tuition  were  very  materially  reduced. 

The  college  has  no  endowment,  but  depends  for  its  support  and  its 
progress  in  material  equipment  entirely  upon  tuition  fees.  That  it  has 
been  able  from  this  source,  in  the  last  few  years,  to  not  only  maintain 
itself  but  to  expand  considerably  is  an  evidence  of  its  success.  Situ- 
ated as  it  is,  its  chances  for  future  growth  may  not  be  very  flattering, 
owing  to  the  depressed  condition  of  the  agricultural  classes  of  the 
South,  from  which  its  patronage  is  mainly  drawn,  but  it  is  probable 
that  it  will  more  than  hold  its  own  under  its  present  management. 
The  property  of  the  college  is  at  present  estimated  to  be  worth  about 
$65,000,  and  its  library  contains  about  5,000  volumes.  Its  matricula- 
tion as  regards  distribution  is  largely  confined  to  the  South.  In  the 
last  twenty-four  years  there  have  been  one  or  two  classical  graduates 
and  five  or  six  commercial  graduates  each  year.  The  whole  number  of 
graduates  during  this  period  is  151,  of  whom  26  have  taken  the  degree 
of  A.  B.  and  12  that  of  B.  S.  A  number  of  these  have  taken  promi- 
nent positions  in  political,  legal,  medical,  business,  and  clerical  circles. 

The  curriculum  of  the  institution  as  at  present  arranged  embraces 
three  courses  of  study:  The  commercial,  extending  over  three  years, 
and  including,  besides  instruction  in  bookkeeping  and  kindred  subjects, 
the  elements  of  a  good  English  education,  in  which  only  a  certificate  is 
granted;  the  scientific  or  mathematical,  which  includes  additional 
instruction  in  English,  mathematics,  and  the  natural  sciences,  extends 
over  four  years,  and  leads  to  the  degree  of  B.  S. ;  the  classical,  in  which 
the  classics,  English,  philosophy,  and  modern  languages  are  the  prin- 
cipal features,  which  extends  over  six  years  and  leads  to  the  degree 
of  A.  B.  The  degree  of  A.  M.  is  conferred  upon  Bachelors  of  Arts 
who  study  an  additional  year  at  the  college  or  attain  recognized  stand- 
ing in  one  of  the  higher  professions.  There  is  also  a  preparatory 
department  and  there  are  besides  supplementary  studies  in  the  fine 
arts,  elocution,  military  drill,  and  gymnastics. 

The  faculty  of  the  institution  is  composed  of  men  who  have  made  the 
education  of  youth  their  life  work,  this  being  the  principal  object  of  the 
order  to  which  they  belong.  As  at  present  constituted  its  members 


140  HISTORY    OP    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

are  as  follows:  Eev.  John  Fehrenbach,  0.  E.,  Ph.  D.,  I).  D.,  mental 
philosophy,  modern  languages;  Rev.  John  Koskiuski,  0.  E.,  classics, 
elocution,  algebra;  Eev.  Michael  Jaglowitz,  C.  E.,  classics,  history; 
Eev.  E.  M.  Crane,  A.  M.,  higher  English,  history,  classics;  T.  A. 
Schalder,  A.  M.,  natural  sciences,  mathematics;  J.  M.  Cooney,  A.  M., 
English,  mathematics,  bookkeeping.  There  are  also  assistant  teachers 
in  bookkeeping  and  shorthand,  in  music  and  drawing,  in  penmanship, 
and  in  United  States  history  and  geography.  Eev.  Michael  Jaglowitz, 
besides  being  one  of  the  professors,  also  holds  the  position  of  disciplin- 
arian, an  officer  with  important  functions. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Collins's  Sketches,  Collins's  and  Perrin,  Battle  and  Kniffen's  histories;  Hender- 
son's Centennial  Exhibit;  Spalding's  Early  Missions. 

A  History  of  Kentucky,  by  William  B.  Allen,  Louisville,  1872. 

Sketches  of  the  Life,  Times,  and  Character  of  Bishop  Flaget,  by  Right  Rev.  M.  J. 
Spalding,  Louisville,  1852. 

The  Life  of  Rev.  Charles  Nerinckx,  by  Rev.  C.  P.  Maes;  Cincinnati,  1880. 

A  Centenary  of  Catholicity  in  America,  by  B.  J.  Webb ;  Louisville,  1884. 

Extracts  from  the  Jesuits'  Private  Papers,  furnished  by  President  Fehrenba'ch. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  GEORGETOWN  COLLEGE,  OF  GEORGETOWN,  KY. 

By  J.  WILLIAM  BLACK,  Ph.  D.1 
EARLY   HISTORY. 

Georgetown  College  is  located  in  Georgetown,  Ky.,  which  is  on  the 
northern  riin  of  the  famous  "Blue-grass"  region.  It  is  a  convenient 
and  delightful  location  for  the  college.  The  climate  is  good,  the  coun- 
try fertile  and  beautiful,  the  railroad  facilities  excellent,  the  town 
convenient  to  large  centers,  being  only  12  miles  north  of  Lexington 
and  about  50  miles  south  of  Cincinnati.  The  social  environment  of 
the  college  student  is  all  that  could  be  desired. 

THE   TOWN. 

The  town  itself,  though  it  has  not  grown  to  large  size,  is  an  old  and 
historic  one,  and  bears  the  proud  title,  u  Belle  of  the  Blue  Grass." 
It  is  said  to  be  the  site  of  the  first  permanent  settlement  north  of  the 
Kentucky  Eiver,  for  as  early  as  November,  1775,  one  John  McClelland 
and  a  few  pioneers  came  down  the  Ohio  Eiver  from  Pittsburg,  wandered 
about  in  northeastern  Kentucky,  and  finally  located  here.  The  attrac- 
tion was  a  big  spring,  near  which  the  first  cabin  was  erected,  and 
which  received  the  name  of  the  "  Eoyal  Spring."  This  spring,  since 
called  u  Big  Spring,"  is  one  of  the  features  of  the  town  to  this  day.  In 
1790,  by  act  of  the  legislature  of  Virginia,  the  name  of  "  Georgetown," 
in  honor  of  the  first  President,  was  given  to  the  settlement  which  had 
grown  up  about  this  spot. 

1  Professor  of  history  and  political  economy,  Colby  College;  formerly  professor  of 
history  and  political  science  pro  tempore  (1891-92,)  in  Georgetown  College,  Kentucky. 


\  -' 

'   Cf? 

UN* 

!*Li 


GEORGETOWN  COLLEGE.  141 

THE  COLLEGE. 

The  founding  of  the  college  dates  from  January  15, 1829.  It  was  the 
first  collegiate  institution  of  the  Baptists  south  and  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies  to  receive  a  charter,  and  the  fifth  in  order  among  the  Baptist 
colleges  established  in  the  United  States.  In  this  new  and  sparsely 
settled  country  there  was  much  pioneer  work  to  be  done  by  this  insti- 
tution and  its  sister  colleges  of  the  South  and  West,  many  of  which 
were  founded  during  this  era  of  westward  expansion. 

The  college  was  incorporated  by  the  legislature  of  Kentucky  under 
the  name  of  the  Kentucky  Baptist  Education  Society.  The  charter  in 
its  original  form,  including  also  the  names  of  the  first  board  of  trustees, 
is  as  follows : 

THE  CHARTER  OF  THE   KENTUCKY  BAPTIST  EDUCATION  SOCIETY,  GRANTED  JANUARY, 

1829. 
AN  ACT  to  incorporate  the  trustees  of  the  Kentucky  Baptist  Education  Society. 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  general  assembly  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky,  That  Alva 
Woods,  Silas  M.  Noel,  Jeremiah  Vardeman,  John  Bryce,  David  Thurman,  Gabriel 
Slaughter,  Joel  Scott,  Peter  Mason,  Thomas  P.  Dudley,  Peter  C.  Buck,  Jephthah 
Dudley,  Benjamin  Tyler,  George  W.  Nichols,  Gurdon  Gates,  Kyland  T.  Dillard,  Ben- 
jamin Davis,  William  Johnson,  Samuel  M'Kay,  Thomas  Smith,  C.  Van  Buskirk, 
James  Ford,  and  Cyrus  Wingate  shall  be,  and  are  hereby,  constituted  a  body  politic 
and  corporate,  to  be  known  and  designated  by  the  name  and  style  of  "  The  Trustees 
of  the  Kentucky  Baptist  Education  Society,"  and  by  that  naliae  shall  have  perpetual 
succession  and  a  common  seal,  with  power  to  change  and  alter  the  same  at  pleasure; 
and,  as  a  body  corporate,  shall  be  authorized  to  exercise  all  the  powers,  privileges, 
and  rights  which  are  exercised  by  the  trustees  of  any  academy  of  learning  in  the 
State;  but  that  the  property  of  said  corporation  shall  be  subject  to  taxation,  except 
the  college  buildings  and  five  acres  of  ground  around  the  same;  and  on  the  death, 
resignation,  or  other  disqualification  of  any  of  the  said  trustees  or  their  successors 
in  office  a  majority  of  two-thirds  of  the  trustees  remaining  in  office  may  fill  such 
vacancies,  and  the  person  or  persons  so  appointed  shall  be  vested  with  the  same 
powers  and  privileges  as  those  named  in  this  act,  and  by  the  name  and  style  and 
denomination  of  "The  Trustees  of  the  Kentucky  Baptist  Education  Society"  may 
sue  and  be  sued,  plead  and  be  impleaded,  defend  and  be  defended,  in  any  court  of 
law  and  equity  in  this  State. 

SEC.  2.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  the  said  trustees  and 
their  successors  in  office,  and  that  are  hereby  invested  with  full  power  and  authority 
in  their  corporate  capacity,  to  purchase,  or  receive  by  donation,  demise,  or  bequest 
any  lands,  tenements,  hereditaments,  monies,  rents,  goods,  and  chattels,  and  to  hold 
the  same,  by  the  name  aforesaid,  to  them  and  their  successors  forever  for  the  use  and 
benefit  of  said  institution,  and  according  to  the  intention  of  the  donor  or  donors  of 
any  such  lands,  tenements,  hereditaments,  monies,  rents,  goods,  and  chattels,  and 
not  otherwise,  and  to  sell,  transfer,  and  convey  the  same,  under  the  seal  of  said  cor- 
poration, unless  prohibited  by  the  terms  of  any  such  donation. 

SEC.  3.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  and  maybe  lawfnl  for  the  trustees  afore- 
said, and  their  successors  in  office,  to  appoint,  out  of  their  own  body,  a  chairman 
or  president,1  and  a  majority  of  the  trustees  shall  at  all  times  constitute  a  quorum 
to  do  business  and  may  make  such  by-laws,  rules,  and  ordinances  necessary  for  the 
proper  government  of  said  institution  as  shall  not  be  repugnant  to  the  Constitution 
and  laws  of  the  United  States  or  laws  of  this  State.  The  said  president  and  trustees 
shall  also  have  power  at  all  times  to  select  and  appoint  such  officers,  teachers,  tutors, 
and  professors  for  the  management  of  said  institution  as  they  may  think  necessary, 
to  fix  their  salaries  and  prescribe  their  duties,  to  fix  and  prescribe  the  terms  upon 
which  students  may  be  admitted  into  said  institution,  and  for  any  misconduct^in 
any  officer,  teacher,  or  professor  to  dismiss  such  person  from  office  and  appoint 
another  or  others  in  their  stead. 

SEC.  4.  The  said  presidr^t  and  trustees  shall  keep  a  record  of  their  proceedings  in 
a  book  or  books,  to  be  provided  for  that  purpose,  and  may,  if  they  deem  it  neces- 

1  The  Rev.  Silas  M.  Noel  was  chosen  first  president  of  the  board  of  trustees. 


142  HISTORY   OF   HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

sary,  appoint  a  clerk  to  record  their  proceedings  and  prescribe  his  duties.  It  shall 
be  the  duty  of  the  said  president  and  trustees,  and  their  successors,  to  have  recorded 
in  the  office  of  the  county  court  of  the  county  where  the  said  institution  may  be 
located  the  names  of  the  trustees  thereof  hereby  appointed  and  the  names  of  such 
as  shall  hereafter  be  appointed  in  their  stead. 

SEC.  5.  Be  it  enacted,  That  within  60  days  from  the  passage  of  this  act  the  trustees 
aforesaid  shall  meet  in  Lexington  and  enter  upon  the  duties  assigned  them  by  this 
act,  not  less  than  a  majority  of  two-thirds  being  competent  thereto:  Provided,  how- 
erer,  That  the  real  and  personal  estate  acquired  by  the  said  corporation  shall  at  no 
one  time  exceed  the  yearly  rent  or  value  of  50,000  dollars. 

SEC.  6.  Be  it  enacted.  That  full  power  is  reserved  to  the  general  assembly  to  repeal 
or  modify  the  privileges  hereby  granted.1 

In  December  22,  1798,  the  Kittenhouse  Academy  was  founded  in 
Georgetown,  and  endowed  by  the  State  with  6,000  acres  of  the  public 
lands  of  Kentucky.  A  building  was  erected  on  the  site  of  the  present 
academy  of  Georgetown  College,  which  occupies  a  spot  50  yards  to 
the  west  of  Recitation  Hall.  In  1829,  when  the  college  was  organ- 
izing, the  trustees  of  Kittenhouse  Academy,  by  the  authority  of  the 
legislature  of  the  Commonwealth,  transferred  all  the  property  of 
the  academy,  real  arid  personal,  to  the  trustees  of  the  Kentucky 
Baptist  Education  Society  for  the  benefit  of  Georgetown  College. 

At  the  same  time  Issachar  Pawling,  a  man  not  of  great  wealth  but 
of  generous  impulses,  a  good  Baptist  and  a  friend  of  higher  education, 
gave  the  founding  of  the  college  a  great  impetus  by  placing  at  the 
disposal  of  the  newly  created  board  of  trustees  a  fund  of  $20,000. 
Pawling  deserves  much  of  the  credit  that  attaches  to  his  memory  as 
the  real  founder  of  the  college  at  Georgetown,  and  the  trustees  have 
fittingly  recognized  their  obligation  to  this  noble  benefactor  by  naming 
one  of  their  largest  buildings  Pawling  Hall. 

To  this  endowment  fund  of  Pawling's  there  was  added  immediately 
a  contribution  of  $6,000  from  the  citizens  of  Georgetown,  which  had 
been  subscribed  by  them  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  location  of 
the  college  in  their  inidst. 

On  September  2,  1829,  Rev.  William  Staughton,  D.  D.,  of  Columbian 
College,  Washington  D.  C.,  was  chosen  the  first  president  of  George- 
town College,  but  unfortunately  he  died  suddenly  on  December  12, 
1829,  while  in  the  midst  of  preparations  to  proceed  to  his  new  field  of 
labor.  After  this  misfortune  the  trustees  met  with  some  difficulty  in 
their  efforts  to  find  a  suitable  man  for  the  newly  created  institution. 

Stephen  Chaplin,  D.  D.,  likewise  of  Washington,  was  next  called  to 
the  presidency  in  January,  1830,  but  he  declined.  The  third  choice 
then  fell  upon  Irah  Chase,  D.  D.,  president  of  the  Newton  Theological 
Institute,  Massachasetts.  President  Chase  went  to  Georgetown,  looked 
over  the  field,  and  declined  the  call.  The  fourth  effort  of  the  trustees 
proved  successful,  and  on  June  21,  1830,  Dr.  Joel  S.  Bacon,  of  Newton 

1  By  an  act  of  the  Kentucky  legislature  dated  January  23,  1840,  the  number  of 
trustees  was  reduced  to  thirteen,  with  the  further  provision  that  a  majority  of  this 
number  should  constitute  a  quorum.  By  a  later  act  (January  28,  1841)  this  fa'rst 
proviso  was  repealed,  the  number  of  trustees  was  increased  to  twenty-four,  and  the 
quorum  for  .business  was  fixed  at  eight. 


GEORGETOWN  COLLEGE.  143 

Center,  Mass.,  was  elected  president.  He  had  previously  been  chosen 
professor  of  languages,  May  4,  1830,  and  had  accompanied  Dr.  Chase 
to  Georgetown  to  assume  his  new  duties. 

When  Dr.  Chase  decided  to  decline  the  call  to  the  presidency,  he 
strongly  recommended  Bacon,  and  the  trustees  acted  favorably  upon 
his  advice.  Thus  President  Bacon,  the  fourth  to  be  chosen,  was  the 
first  to  enter  actively  upon  the  duties  of  the  presidency  of  Georgetown 
College. 

Meanwhile,  however,  the  college  had  begun  without  a  head,  for  in 
accordance  with  a  resolution  of  the  board  the  doors  had  been  opened 
and  instruction  begun  on  January  11,  1830,  the  faculty  at  the  opening 
consisting  of  but  two  officers,  a  principal  of  the  preparatory  depart- 
ment and  a  professor  of  mathematics. 

Charles  O'Harra  was  the  first  principal  of  the  preparatory  depart- 
ment and  the  instructor  of  the  43  pupils  who  entered  at  the  opening. 
In  the  college  a  mathematical  class  was  formed  with  15  students, 
and,  under  the  instruction  of  Thornton  F.  Johnson,  of  Virgin  a,  the 
professor  of  mathematics,  and  the  first  member  of  the  college  faculty 
chosen  by  the  board  of  trustees.  Indeed,  the  intention  of  the  board  was 
to  create  manifold  duties  for  the  first  college  officer,  if  we  are  to  judge 
by  the  full  title  of  his  chair,  which  reads:  "Professor  of  mathematics, 
natural  and  experimental  philosophy,  and*  the  French  language." 

A  professor  of  languages — presumably  the  classical  languages — a  Mr. 
Ituggles,  of  Columbian  College,  Washington,  was  also  invited  to  George- 
town, but  he  declined.  Joel  S.  Bacon  was  then  chosen  to  the  chair,  and 
later  was  elected  president,  as  already  explained.  The  salary  of  the 
members  of  the  faculty  was  fixed  at  $800  each;  the  salary  of  the 
president  at  $1,500,  and  the  latter's  chair  was  to  be  known  as  the 
"  Pawling  Chair," l  in  honor  of  the  first  benefactor  of  the  college. 

The  college  plant  at  the  opening  consisted  of  one  small  unpretentious 
structure,  the  former  Eitteuhouse  Academy  building;  lots,  valued  at 
$6,000,  for  a  campus— the  gift  of  Georgetown  citizens — and  the  $20,000 
endowment  fund  contributed  by  Pawling. 

The  college  year  was  divided  into  two  sessions  irrespective  of  vaca- 
tions, which  were  somewhat  irregular  at  first,  one  continuing  from 
March  20  to  September  20,  the  other  from  September  20  to  March  20. 
It  was  also  further  provided  that  during  the  first  or  summer  term  the 
hours  of  study  should  be  from  8  to  12  a.  m.  and  from  2  to  6  p.  m.,  and 
in  the  latter  from  8  to  12  a.  m.  and  from  1  to  4  p.  m.,  and  a  curious 
regulation  required  the  professors  and  tutors  to  remain  in  their  lecture 
rooms  during  these  hours,  and  prohibited  the  student  from  leaving  the 
college  inclosure  without  the  permission  of  his  professor.  Tuition  fees 
in  the  college  department  were  fixed  at  $25  per  annum ;  in  the  pre- 
paratory department  at  from  $12  to  $20,  according  to  the  studies  taken. 

1  The  title  of  the  president's  chair  was  changed  at  a  later  time,  as  noted  elsewhere, 
and  it  is  now  known  as  the  "  R.  M.  Dudley  Memorial  Chair." 


144  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

The  purpose  of  the  college,  as  stated  in  its  prospectus,  was  "to 
impart  the  lights  of  education  to  pious  indigent  applicants  of  the  Bap- 
tist order  who  are  desirous  of  embarking  in  the  ministry."  Pawling 
had  made  his  donation  to  the  college  with  the  proviso  that  it  be  used 
for  the  support  and  education  of  indigent  young  ministerial  students. 
He  was  now  persuaded  to  incorporate  the  gift  unconditionally  with  the 
general  funds  of  the  college,  in  return  for  which  the  trustees  offered  to 
grant  free  tuition  to  young  men  studying  for  the  ministry.  The  policy 
then  agreed  upon  has  prevailed  to  this  day,  and  free  tuition  has  always 
been  granted  this  class  of  students. 

The  college  closed  its  first  session  June  11,  1830,  to  open  again  July 
26,  1830.  On  the  latter  day  Eev.  Joel  S.  Bacon,  the  first  active  presi- 
dent of  the  college,  delivered  his  inaugural  address  in  the  Methodist 
Church  in  Georgetown.  The  number  of  students  was  now  about  GO, 
equally  divided  between  the  college  and  the  academy.  A  library  of  500 
volumes  had  been  added,  and  a  small  assortment  of  maps,  charts, 
globes,  physical  and  chemical  apparatus. 

Several  new  appointments  on  the  staff  of  the  college  faculty  were  now 
made,  and  at  the  opening  of  the  next  spring  session,  April  18, 1831,  the 
faculty  had  its  full  complement  for  the  first  time.  It  was  as  follows: 
Eev.  Joel  Smith  Bacon,  A.  M.,  president;  Rev.  N".  N.  Whiting,  A.  M., 
professor  of  languages;1  Thortitoii  F.  Johnson,  esq.,  professor  of  mathe- 
matics, etc. ;  Samuel  D.  Hatch,  M.  D.,  professor  of  chemistry ;  Mr.  F. 
E.  Frebuchet,  of  France,  professor  of  French  language;  William  Craig, 
A.  M.,  tutor  in  the  college  proper;  William  F.  Nelson,  A.  B.,  principal 
of  preparatory  department  (the  academy). 

The  college  was  by  this  time  fairly  well  organized  and  the  work  pro- 
ceeded with  more  system.  Two  courses  were  provided — a  full  college 
course  of  eight  sessions,  which  would  correspond  approximately  to  the 
modern  four  year  classical  course,  was  offered,  and  the  degree  of  bach- 
elor of  arts  conferred  upon  those  completing  it;  besides  this  an  Eng- 
lish course  of  six  sessions  (three  years)  was  also  offered  and  an  English 
diploma  conferred  upon  those  completing  the  latter  course. 

Provision  was  also  made  for  the  granting  of  certificates  of  scholar- 
ship to  those  who  desired  them  for  work  done  in  any  department. 

Three  recitations  were  given  daily  for  five  days  in  the  week  and  one 
recitation  on  Saturday.  Speaking  and  composition  were  required 
weekly  and  examinations  were  held  in  all  studies  at  the  close  of  each 
session,  and  all  candidates  for  degrees  or  diplomas  were  required  to 
take  the  same  bill  of  fare  in  their  respective  courses.  Two  breaks  or 
vacations  in  the  college  year  were  now  provided,  one  beginning  the 
first  Monday  in  March  and  continuing  six  weeks;  the  other  beginning 
on  the  third  Thursday  in  September  and  continuing  until  the  third 
Monday  in  October.  The  third  Wednesday  in  September  was  corn- 
designed  shortly  after  his  appointment  and  was  succeeded  by  George  W.  Eaton, 
A.  M. 


GEORGETOWN    COLLEGE.  145 

mencement  day.  Tuition  fees  continued  the  same.  The  estimated 
annual  expenses  of  the  student  for  board,  washing,  lodging,  fuel,  and 
lights  were  $75,  making  the  total  average  expenditure  for  the  college 
year  $100.  For  the  preparatory  students  the  charges  were  slightly 
less,  the  tuition  for  those  taking  classical  studies  being  $20  a  year;  for 
those  taking  an  English  course,  $15,  There  was  also  an  additional 
charge  of  $1  for  fuel  used  in  the  winter  season. 

Dr.  Bacon  remained  president  of  the  college  about  two  years.  Lack 
of  funds  and  controversies  over  the  management  of  the  property  made 
his  administration  a  trying  one,  and  he  felt  obliged  to  retire  from  the 
presidency.  From  1832  until  1836  the  college  was  without  a  head, 
being  managed  as  a  private  institution  under  the  leadership  of  the 
professor  of  mathematics,  Thornton  F.  Johnson.  In  the  latter  year 
the  Eev.  B.  F.  Farnsworth  was  chosen  president  and  held  the  office 
for  a  few  months.  He  made  an  earnest  though  unsuccessful  attempt 
to  place  the  institution  on  a  sound  financial  basis  and  resigned  the 
same  year  (1836). 

In  October,  1838,  Eev.  Eockwood  Giddings,  D.  D.,  of  Shelbyville, 
Ky.,  became  president.  His  term  was  limited  to  one  year,  his  death 
occurring  October  29, 1839,  but  it  was  long  enough  to  demonstrate  that 
he  was  the  most  successful  administrator  that  had  yet  presided  over 
the  affairs  of  the  college.  Dr.  Giddiugs  was  very  active  during  his 
short  administration.  Though  he  never  entered  upon  the  work  of  the 
class  room,  he  performed  a  more  important  service  to  the  college  in 
securing  harmony  among  the  trustees  in  the  management  of  the  insti- 
tution. He  also  made  a  strenuous  and*  successful  effort  to  increase 
the  endowment  fund,  and  secured  subscriptions  amounting  to  about 
$100,000,  a  large  portion  of  which,  however,  was  not  paid  in,  owing  to 
the  subsequent  financial  distress  which  affected  the  whole  country  and 
prevented  many  of  the  friends  of  the  college  from  meeting  their  pledges. 

Furthermore,  through  the  aggressive  efforts  of  President  Giddings, 
the  main  college  building,  which  still  occupies  the  center  of  the  campus 
and  is  now  known  as  u  Eecitation  Hall,"  was  begun  and  completed  from 
the  Giddings  endowment.  This  was  the  first  college  building  erected 
by  the  trustees  of  the  Kentucky  Baptist  Education  Society,  the  college 
exercises  having  been  conducted  hitherto  in  the  old  Eittenhouse  Acad- 
emy building  and  in  rented  quarters. 

After  an  interval  of  a  few  months  Dr.  Howard  Malcolm  became  the 
successor  of  Dr.  Giddings.  The  choice  was  a  fortunate  one  for  two 
reasons— in  the  first,  he  had  the  qualifications  necessary  to  carry  for- 
ward the  movements  so  auspiciously  begun  by  his  predecessor,  and, 
secondly,  he  remained  in  the  office  long  enough — a  period  of  ten  years — 
to  leave  upon  it  the  impress  of  his  personality  and  to  secure  an  efficient 
organization  of  the  work,  the  general  lines  of  which  have  remained  to 
this  day.  Dr.  Malcolm's  service  rounded  out  the  second  decade  of  the 
history  of  the  college.  In  1850,  the  year  of  the  great  compromise  on 
2127— No.  25 10 


146  HISTORY   OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

slavery,  Dr.  Malcolm  retired  from  the  presidency,  impelled  largely  by 
the  arising  of  political  conditions  about  him  with  which  he  was  not  in 
full  sympathy,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  Eev.  Dr.  J.  L.  Eeynolds,  of 
South  Carolina.  At  the  end  of  two  years  Dr.  Eeynolds  retired  for 
domestic  reasons  and  gave  place  to  the  Eev.  Dr.  Duncan  E.  Campbell. 

During  President  Eeynolds's  administration  an  important  change 
was  made  in  the  charter  of  the  college.  By  act  of  November  25,  1851, 
it  was  u  enacted  that  each  individual  who  since  January  1,  1840,  has 
donated  to  the  Kentucky  Baptist  Education  Society  $100,  or  shall  do 
so  in  the  future,  shall  be  and  are  hereby  constituted  a  body  politic  and 
corporate,  to  be  known  and  designated  by  the  name  and  style  of  the 
Kentucky  Baptist  Education  Society,  and  by  that  name  shall  have  per- 
petual succession,  and  a  common  seal,  with  power  to  change  and  alter 
said  seal  at  pleasure."  Power  was  also  given  to  this  bcdy  "to  carry 
out"  such  measures  as  would  promote  the  interests  of  Georgetown 
College  and  the  cause  of  college  education. 

It  was  further  provided  also  that  business  meetings  of  this  new  cor- 
poration should  be  held  annually  in  Georgetown  during  commencement 
week 5  that  25  members  of  the  society  should  constitute  a  quorum  for 
business  at  the  annual  meetings,  20  sufficing  for  called  meetings  during 
the  interval  between  commencements;  that  this  corporation  should 
make  such  by-laws,  rules,  etc.,  and  elect  such  officers  as  were  necessary 
to  carry  into  effect  the  provisions  of  the  act;  and  further  provided  also 
that  the  society  should  have  the  sole  power  to  appoint  trustees  of  the 
Kentucky  Baptist  Education  Society,  and  that  henceforth  the  following 
method  of  choosing  the  trustees  should  prevail:  "They  "  (the  members 
of  the  society)  "shall,  at  the  first  annual  meeting,  choose  all  the  trus- 
tees aforesaid,  dividing  as  equally  as  practicable  the  whole  number  into 
four  classes,  one  of  which  classes  shall  be  appointed  for  a  term  of  one 
year,  another  for  two  years,  a  third  for  three  years,  and  a  fourth  for  four 
years.  At  each  subsequent  annual  meeting  said  corporation  shall 
nominate,  etc.,  for  a  term  of  four  years  persons  to  fill  vacancies  of  class 
whose  term  of  office  shall  expire,  etc.,  at  said  meetings,  or  fill  vacancies 
in  any  class  for  unexpired  terms.  If  said  corporation  fail  to  fill  vacan- 
cies, then  the  trustees  of  Kentucky  Baptist  Education  Society  are 
empowered  to  fill  vacancies  by  a  two-thirds  vote."  The  trustees  were 
to  report  the  condition  of  the  college  at  the  annual  meetings  of  the 
society.1 

This  act  of  1851  changed  fundamentally  the  governing  machinery  of 
the  college,  for  instead  of  a  close  corporation  of  24  trustees,  a  perma- 
nent and  self-perpetuating  body,  there  is  substituted  in  its  stead  the 
Kentucky  Baptist  Education  Society,  which  is  now  more  than  a  mere 
corporate  title,  and  which  becomes  an  active  and  growing  body  of 


1 A  few  changes  were  made  iii  this  act  by  a  subsequent  act  of  January  10,  1863,  but 
these  changes  were  repealed  in  a  repealing  act  of  January  19,  1866,  thus  leaving  the 
act  of  1851  intact  and  in  force  to-day  as  the  constitution  for  the  government  of  the 
college. 


GEORGETOWN   COLLEGE.  147 

friends  of  the  college,  who  are  entitled  to  membership  in  return  for  a 
gift  of  $100  or  more  to  the  endowment  of  Georgetown  College.  This 
body  selects  the  trustees,  who  in  turn  select  the  president  and  faculty 
and  manage  the  general  business  affairs  of  the  institution.  Conversely, 
also,  the  trustees  are  responsible  to  the  Kentucky  Baptist  Education 
Society.  It  is  expected  that  at  least  three-fourths  of  the  trustees  shall 
be  active  members  of  regular  Baptist  churches.  Such  a  method  of 
incorporation  and  organization  as  the  foregoing  is  unique,  and  it  has 
the  advantage  of  attracting  support  to  the  college  and  of  giving  all 
who  have  contributed  to  its  existence  and  maintenance  a  share  in  its 
direction. 

President  Campbell  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office  in  1853,  and 
the  year  and  event  were  highly  auspicious  for  the  fortunes  of  the  col- 
lege, for  the  new  president  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  energetic, 
tactful,  and  efficient  executives  Georgetown  ever  had. 

He  saw  at  once  the  imperative  need  of  an  enlarged  endowment  fund 
and  set  himself  without  delay  to  the  task.  Of  the  "Giddings  Fund," 
less  than  half  of  which  had  been  collected,  only  $10,000  remained,  tbe 
rest  having  been  absorbed  in  the  completion  of  the  main  college 
building  and  the  enlargement  of  the  campus.  The  result  of  President 
Campbell's  laborious  efforts  was  a  subscription  list  of  $100,000  for  the 
endowment  of  the  college.  Of  this  amount  one-half  was  collected  and 
invested  by  the  trustees.  The  rest,  carried  along  for  a  number  of  years 
in  the  form  of  personal  bonds  and  pledges,1  was  swallowed  up  in  the 
civil  war,  which  carried  down  with  it  many  a  Southern  institution  and 
brought  financial  ruin  to  many  a  home.  Misfortune  thus  rendered 
many  donors  unable  to  meet  their  obligations,  and  the  college  was 
obliged  to  cancel  them. 

Notwithstanding  these  severe  losses,  however,  Georgetown  College 
was  more  fortunate  in  its  investments  than  many  of  its  contemporaries, 
and  there  is  abundant  evidence  of  the  good  management  of  its  affairs 
in  the  fact  that  of  the  $50,000  of  the  Campbell  fund  which  had  been 
collected  and  invested,  scarcely  any  portion  of  this  amount  was  impaired 
by  the  war.  This  fund  was  the  chief  bulwark  and  support  of  the  college 
during  the  trying  period  following  the  civil  war. 

Dr.  Campbell  died  suddenly  in  1865,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  Eev. 
Nathaniel  Macon  Crawford,  who  resigned  in  1871,  owing  to  ill  health, 
and  who,  in  turn,  was  followed  in  September  of  that  year  by  the  Eev. 
Basil  Manly,  jr.  D.  D.  Dr.  Manly  was  a  native  of  Alabama,  a  gradu- 
ate of  the  University  of  Alabama  in  1843  and  of  Princeton  Theologi- 
cal Seminary  in  1847.  He  was  called  to  the  presidency  of  Georgetown 
from  his  chair  in  the  Southern  Baptist  Theological  Seminary  of  Louis- 
ville, which  he  had  occupied  since  the  foundation  of  the  latter  institu- 

1  Many  subscribers  were  permitted  to  retain  the  principal,  provided  they  paid  the 
annual  interest  on  the  amounts  of  their  subscriptions.  This  proved  an  unfortunate 
arrangement  for  the  college,  as  in  many  instances  the  financial  failures  of  donors 
caused  heavy  losses  of  both  interest  and  principal. 


148  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

tion.  President  Manly  continued  in  the  office  of  president  until  1879, 
when  he  resigned  to  accept  again  his  old  professorship  in  the  Southern 
Baptist  Theological  Seminary  at  Louisville.  The  faculty  numbered 
eight  in  the  time  of  Dr.  Manly.1 

During  these  last  two  administrations  no  general  efforts  were  made  to 
increase  the  endowment  of  the  college,  owing  to  the  danger  of  conflict 
with  efforts  that  were  being  made  to  raise  a  fund  of  $300,000  for  the 
Southern  Baptist  Theological  Seminary  at  Louisville.  After  the  civil 
war  there  was  a  marked  falling  off  in  the  number  of  students  in  attend- 
ance at  the  college,  and  this  decline  was  attributed  by  President  Manly 
to  several  causes ;  first,  the  impoverishment  of  many  families  by  the  war 
prevented  them  from  giving  their  sons  a  collegiate  education  ;  secondly, 
because  of  the  narrowing  of  the  field  of  the  college,  which  had  for- 
merly extended  to  the  Gulf  and  beyond  the  Mississippi  Iliver  in  view 
of  the  appearance  of  new  rivals  in  the  field,  like  the  new  Baptist 
institution,  Bethel  College  at  Kussellville,  in  Western  Kentucky,  and 
the  efforts  of  many  Southern  States  in  restoring  and  extending  the  effi- 
ciency of  their  colleges  and  schools  through  public  as  well  as  private 
beneficence. 

One  or  two  efforts  to  supply  needs  of  the  college  are  worthy  of  note. 
One  of  these  was  the  attempt  to  endow  a  professorship  to  be  known  as 
the  u  Student's  chair,"  and  toward  which  some  $8,000  was  collected 
through  the  zeal  of  Prof.  J.  J.  Eucker,  assisted  by  some  of  the  alumni;2 
and  the  other,  the  enlargement  of  the  students  dormitory,  Pawling 
Hall,  by  the  erection  of  a  large  wing  forming  a  new  front  to  the  old 
building.  This  improvement  was  completed  in  1879.  It  involved  an 
expense  of  $7,000,  the  amount  being  raised  by  President  Manly  in 
cooperation  with  Mrs.  James  F.  Eobinson  and  Mrs.  D.  Thomas,  of 
Georgetown. 

Eev.  Eichard  M.  Dudley,  D.  D.,  was  the  successor  of  Manly.  Dr. 
Dudley  was  born  in  Madison  County,  Ky.,  September  1,  1838,  and  was 
descended  from  a  line  of  Kentucky  preachers.  He  graduated  from 
Georgetown  College  in  1860.  He  then  entered  the  Baptist  ministry, 
and  in  1880  was  elected  president  of  his  alma  mater,  being  the  first 
alumnus  to  attain  that  distinction.  He  remained  president  until  his 
death,  January  5,  1893,  a  period  of  thirteen  years,  and  bears  the  dis- 
tinction of  having  served  a  longer  term  than  any  other  president  of  the 
college;  but  his  fame  rests  upon  a  more  substantial  foundation  than 
this.  The  college  now  entered  upon  a  new  era.  The  endowment  fund :! 

1  Basil  Manly,  jr.  D.  D.,  president  and  professor  of  English  literature;  Danford 
Thomas,  A.  M.,  Greek;  J.  E.  Farnam,  LL.  D.,  physical  science;  J.  J.  Eucker,  A.  M., 
mathematics;  J.  N.  Bradley,  A.  M.,  Latin;  E.  M.  Dudley,  D.  D.,  history  and  modern 
languages  (1872-76) ;  Rev.  H.  McDonald,  D.  D.,  professor  of  systematic  and  pastoral 
theology  [The  Western  Baptist  Theological  Institute  Foundation];  L.  V.  Ware, 
A.  M.,  principal  of  the  academy. 

3For  a  further  account  of  this  effort  and  its  success,  see  page  151. 

3  An  account  of  this  fund,  together  with  the  purposes  for  which  the  different 
foundations  were  intended,  will  be  found  elsewhere.  (See  pp.  149-152.) 


GEORGETOWN    COLLEGE.  149 

was  tripled,  new  professorships  were  created,  new  courses  were  added 
to  the  curriculum,  the  number  of  students  increased,  and  coeducation 
was  adopted.  The  new  buildings  recently  erected  were  the  results  of 
efforts  inaugurated  by  him.  Indeed  President  Dudley's  connection 
with  the  college  was  so  long  and  so  recent  that  the  college  is  to-day 
largely  as  he  left  it,  and  in  the  description  of  its  present  resources  and 
activities,  which  follows  this  historical  sketch,  many  of  the  traces  of 
his  handiwork  may  be  seen.  After  the  death  of  President  Dudley  in 
January,  1893,  the  next  choice  of  the  trustees  fell  upon  the  Eev. 
Augustus  Cleveland  Davidson,  D.  D..  of  Covington,  Ky.,  a  graduate  of 
the  college  in  the  class  of  1871.  After  a  six  years'  service,  President 
Davidson  resigned  (August,  1898),  and  Prof.  Arthur  Yager  was  chosen 
chairman  of  the  faculty  during  the  interregnum.  Up  to  the  present 
time  (April,  1899),  so  far  as  the  writer  knows,  the  trustees  have  not  yet 
selected  a  president,  and  the  college  is  therefore  temporarily  without  a 
head.  The  college  has  now  completed  seventy  years  of  its  existence, 
and  during  that  interval  has  had  eleven  presidents,  whose  average 
length  of  term  is  something  over  six  years. 

ENDOWMENT. 

At  the  close  of  President  Manly's  administration  (1879)  the  property 
of  the  college  consisted  of  real  estate,  estimated  at  $75,000,  and  invested 
funds  of  about  $80,000. 

During  the  term  of  Dr.  Dudley,  and  through  his  untiring  efforts,  the 
endowment  fund  was  largely  increased  until  it  amounted  to  $225,000. 
To  this  amount  might  also  be  added  some  $25,000  in  notes  and  personal 
pledges,  which  remain  as  yet  uncollected.  Again,  with  the  addition  of 
some  $65,000  or  $70,000  which  the  college  received  during  the  adminis- 
tration of  President  Davidson,  a  portion  of  which  represents  the  fulfill- 
ment of  promises  made  to  Dr.  Dudley,  the  endowment  fund  now  ap- 
proximates the  sum  of  $300,000. 

The  chief  specific  funds  and  bequests  which  were  given  to  the  college 
during  the  past  twelve  years,  and  which  form  a  considerable  part  of 
the  total  endowment,  together  with  the  purposes  for  which  they  were 
designed,  are  as  follows: 

First.  The  McOalla-Galloway  fund,  consisting  of  a  bequest,  in  1888, 
of  $15,000  by  Maj.  F.  0.  McCalla,  and  of  about  $13,600  by  W.  B. 
Galloway,  esq.,  both  of  Scott  County,  and  uncle  and  nephew.  By  a 
combination  of  the  two  bequests  the  trustees  established  a  special  pro- 
fessorship, calling  it  the  "  McCalla-Galloway  professorship  of  natural 
sciences f  but  in  1892  transferred  this  professorship  to  the  chair  of 
mathematics. 

Second.  The  Bostwick  fund.  This  is  a  fund  of  $25,000  in  railroad 
bonds,  with  annual  interest  at  5  per  cent,  given  in  January,  1889,  by 
Mr.  J.  A.  Bostwick,  of  New  York.  This  fund  is  "  to  be  held  by  the  col- 


150  HISTORY   OP   HIGHER   EDUCATION    IN   KENTUCKY. 

lege  in  perpetuity  and  the  income  to  be  used  for  current  expenses,  or 
as  the  board  of  trustees  may  annually  direct."  It  was  an  original  con- 
dition of  this  gift  that  the  college  should  raise  $100,000  from  other 
sources,  but  Mr.  Bostwick  made  his  contribution  before  this  condition 
was  entirely  fulfilled. 

Third.  The  Macklin  fund  of  $8,000,  bequeathed  by  A.  W.  Macklin,  of 
Franklin  County,  Ky.  The  interest  is  used  to  aid  poor  young  men 
studying  for  the  gospel  ministry  in  obtaining  a  liberal  education. 

Fourth.  The  Newton  memorial.  Miss  Mary  J.  Newton,  of  Daviess 
County,  Ky.,  who  died  in  December,  1892,  made  provision  in  her  will 
for  several  bequests  of  property  to  Georgetown  College.  While  the 
matter  still  remains  unsettled,  it  is  probable  that  these  bequests  will 
realize  a  sum  in  the  neighborhood  of  $15,000.  A  portion  of  this  amount, 
$5,000,  is  designated  as  a  memorial  to  her  father,  Col.  William  Newton, 
and  the  income  of  the  fund  is  to  be  used  for  the  library  of  the  college. 

Fifth.  The  Pratt  memorial.  This  memorial  consists  of  an  interest  in 
an  undivided  property  in  Birmingham,  Ala.,  of  an  estimated  value  of 
$5,000,  which  was  conveyed  to  the  trustees  of  the  Kentucky  Baptist 
Education  Society  by  the  late  Rev.  William  M.  Pratt,  D.  D.,  of  Louis- 
ville, president  of  the  board  from  1886  to  1896.  This  property  is  to  be 
sold  and  permanently  invested,  the  principal  to  remain  in  perpetuity 
and  the  income  only  to  be  used  for  the  benefit  of  the  scientific  apparatus 
of  the  college. 

Sixth.  The  Western  Theological  Institute  fund.  This  fund  was 
acquired  by  Georgetown  College  in  the  following  way :  The  Western 
Baptist  Theological  Institute  was  founded  and  located  in  Covington, 
Ky.,  in  1840.  According  to  a  provision  of  the  charter,  the  trustees 
were  chosen  about  equally  from  Ohio  and  Kentucky.  The  new  insti- 
tution was  well  under  way  by  1845,  and  enjoyed  considerable  pros- 
perity until  1852.  About  this  time  disagreements  among  the  trustees 
over  the  slavery  question  wrecked  its  fortunes,  and  in  1855,  the 
Northern  and  Southern  elements  being  irreconcilable,  the  board  of 
trustees  decided  to  sell  the  property  of  the  institute,  amounting  to 
about  $200,000,  and  divide  the  proceeds  equally  between  the  two  sets 
of  claimants.1  The  portion  given  to  the  South  was  transferred  by  the 
Kentucky  trustees  to  Georgetown  College  and  used  at  first  for  the 
maintenance  of  a  professorship  of  theology  in  the  college. 

In  1877  the  Southern  Baptist  Theological  Seminary  moved  to  Louis- 
ville from  Greenville,  S.  C.,  and  shortly  after  the  idea  of  maintaining 
a  theological  foundation  at  Georgetown  was  abandoned  and  the  pro- 
ceeds of  the  fund  were  used  for  a  number  of  years  for  the  support  of  the 

1  Power  was  granted  the  trustees  for  this  purpose  in  a  special  act  of  the  Kentucky 
legislature,  approved  January  28,  1854.  The  act  also  further  provided  that  a 
majority  of  the  trustees  residing  south  of  the  Ohio  River  should  have  the  right  to 
change  the  location  of  the  Western  Baptist  Theological  Institute  from  Covington 
to  Georgetown. 


GEORGETOWN   COLLEGE.  151 

president's  chair.  Though  devoted  to  the  exclusive  use  of  Georgetown 
College,  this  fund  was  managed  until  June,  1891,  by  a  separate  board 
known  as  the  trustees  of  the  Western  Theological  Institute,  a  large  pro- 
portion of  whom  were  also  trustees  of  the  college.  In  that  year  the 
fund  was  formally  transferred  to  the  trustees  of  the  Kentucky  Baptist 
Educational  Association  and  the  former  body  ceased  to  exist.  The 
fund  received  from  the  trustees  of  the  Western  Baptist  Theological 
Institute,  owing  to  a  shrinkage  in  investments,  now  amounts  to  but 
$40,000. 

Seventh.  The  fund  of  the  Students'  Association  of  Georgetown  Col- 
lege, which  now  amounts  to  about  $22,000.  In  1874  Prof.  J.  J.  Eucker 
started  a  fund  to  endow  a  chair  of  history  and  political  science  and 
to  be  known  as  the  students'  chair.  An  association  was  formed  and 
incorporated  by  the  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky  under  the  title  of 
The  Students'  Association  of  Georgetown  College.  It  was  essentially 
an  alumni  organization,  and  the  proviso  was  made  that  anyone  could 
become  a  member  by  subscribing  to  the  capital  stock  of  the  associa- 
tion, which  was  iixed  at  $20  per  share.  The  alumni  subscribed  gener- 
ously until  $15,000  in  all  were  raised.  This  was  accomplished  by 
September  1,  1875.  But  the  fund,  being  deemed  insufficient  for  the 
purpose  intended,  was  then  allowed  to  accumulate  at  compound 
interest  until  it  reached  $22,000.  In  1884  the  trustees  appointed 
Arthur  Yager,  Ph.  D.,  a  graduate  of  Georgetown  College  and  of  the 
Johns  Hopkins  University,  professor  of  history  and  political  science, 
and  in  1885-86  the  income  of  the  fund  of  the  students'  association 
was  used  for  the  first  time  to  pay  the  salary  of  the  holder  of  the 
students'  chair.  This  endowment  fund  is  still  managed  separately  by 
the  students'  association,  which  holds  annual  meetings  during  com- 
mencement week  of  each  year. 

Eighth.  The  college  reading-room  fund.  President  Dudley  and  his 
wife,  before  the  death  of  the  former,  contributed  $2,000  as  a  foundation 
for  a  reading  room.  The  interest  of  this  fund  is  expended  for  the 
maintenance  of  a  file  of  current  American  and  European  periodicals. 

Ninth.  The  Galloway  scholarships,  a  gift  of  $4,400  (1888)  in  the  will 
of  William  B.  Galloway,  of  Scott  County,  Ky.,  a  trustee  of  the  college 
and  one  of  the  founders  of  the  McCalla-Galloway  professorship.  This 
fund  is  used  for  the  education  of  indigent  students  from  Scott  County, 
and  out  of  the  income  five  annual  scholarships  are  provided.  In  case 
the  number  of  applications  for  these  scholarships  exceeds  five  they  are 
awarded  as  the  result  of  competitive  examinations  to  the  five  highest 
candidates. 

Tenth.  The  Maria  Atherton-Farnam  chair  of  natural  science.  This 
foundation  dates  from  1893  and  is  due  to  the  liberality  of  Mr.  John  M. 
Atherton,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  a  wealthy  and  liberal  alumnus  of  the  col- 
lege. The  amount  of  Mr.  Atherton's  gift  was  $30,000,  and  it  is  a  joint 
memorial  created  by  him  in  memory  of  his  wife  and  his  father-in-law,  the 


152  HISTORY   OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION   IN    KENTUCKY. 

late  Prof.  J.  E.  Farnam,  LL.  D.,  who  occupied  this  chair  from  1839  to 
1887.  His  successor  and  the  present  holder  of  the  chair  is  Prof.  John 
Foster  Eastwood,  Ph.  D.,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Michigan. 

Eleventh.  The  Dudley  memorial  fund,  amounting  to  $25,000  ($5,000 
of  this  amount  being  given  also  by  Mr.  John  M.  Atherton).  This  fund, 
the  raising  of  which  is  now  being  completed,  is  a  tribute  from  friends 
and  alumni  of  the  college  to  the  memory  of  the  late  President  Kichard 
M.  Dudley.  The  fund  will  serve  as  a  partial  endowment,  at  least,  of 
the  president's  chair. 

Besides  the  above-mentioned  bequests,  various  other  gifts  of  small 
sums  have  been  made  from  time  to  time  to  the  general  endowment  fund 
of  the  college.  The  proceeds  are  securely  invested  in  the  following 
securities:  $100,000  in  mortgage  loans  (yielding  7  per  cent  interest), 
$25,000  in  railroad  bonds,  and  the  balance,  for  the  most  part,  in  bank 
stocks.  These  funds  are  exempted  from  all  taxes  in  accordance  with 
the  provisions  of  the  general  statutes  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Ken- 
tucky. 

BUILDINGS,    GROUNDS,   AND   EQUIPMENT. 

The  campus  is  situated  on  high  ground  in  the  south  end  of  the  town, 
and  covers  about  15  acres.  Upon  it  are  located  the  principal  college 
buildings. 

In  the  center  of  the  group  and  fronting  toward  the  north  stands  the 
main  building,  the  first  to  be  erected  in  the  time  of  President  Giddings 
(1839).  It  is  a  large  structure  built  of  brick,  and  the  architectural  effect 
is  plain  and  heavy,  the  front  being  ornamented  with  six  massive  brick 
pillars  surmounted  by  Ionic  capitals,  a  type  of  architecture  so  frequently 
met  with  in  the  public  buildings  and  private  residences  of  the  South. 

This  building  until  a  few  years  ago  contained  the  chapel,  the  library, 
and  5  class  rooms,  in  which  all  of  the  college  recitations  were  held. 
Since  the  erection  of  the  new  chapel  and  library  building  it  has  been 
devoted  entirely  to  recitation  purposes,  and  is  now  called  Eecitation 
Hall. 

On  the  east  end  of  the  campus,  and  next  in  point  of  seniority,  is 
Pawling  Hall.  This  is  one  of  the  men's  dormitories  and  has  accommo- 
dations for  60  students.  It  is  a  T-shaped  building,  the  rear  or  older 
portion  having  been  built  some  thirty-five  years  ago,  while  the  front  or 
newer  part  was  constructed  in  1879  at  a  cost  of  $7,000.  This  improve- 
ment more  than  doubled  the  capacity  of  the  old  hall  and  made  it  archi- 
tecturally much  more  attractive  than  formerly.  The  seminary  building, 
within  200  yards  of  the  campus  and  surrounded  by  5  acres  of  recreation 
grounds,  is  also  now  used  as  a  dormitory  for  men,  and  has  a  capacity 
of  75.  The  occupants  of  both  halls  are  organized  in  clubs,  with  officers 
and  a  matron  in  each,  who  supervise  the  management  of  the  halls.  In 
this  way  prudence  and  economy  are  studied,  as  is  seen  in  the  statement 
that  the  average  expense  per  student,  including'  room  rent,  is  not  more 


GEORGETOWN    COLLEGE.  153 

than  $9  per  month.  This  is  an  exceedingly  small  outlay  for  the  value 
received.  Each  student  is  expected  to  furnish  his  own  room,  and  at 
the  end  of  his  college  course  is  at  liberty  to  dispose  of  his  effects  to  the 
next  occupant  upon  terms  that  are  mutually  agreeable. 

The  dormitory  for  the  women  is  known  as  Eucker  Hall,  named  by  the 
trustees  in  honor  of  Prof.  J.  J.  Eucker,  LL.  D.,  who  for  so  many  years 
presided  over  the  Georgetown  Female  Seminary  and  successfully  advo- 
cated the  adoption  of  coeducation  by  the  trustees  of  the  college.  This 
building  was  erected  in  1895  at  a  cost  of  $30,000.  It  is  commodious, 
having  accommodations  for  100  students,  and  is  thoroughly  modern  in 
its  appointments  and  comforts. 

Unlike  the  men's  dormitories,  the  rooms  in  Eucker  Hall  are  all  fur- 
nished ancf  the  rates  are  somewhat  higher,  the  board  and  room  rent 
being  $160  per  year.  All  young  women  in  attendance  upon  the  college 
and  having  homes  away  from  Georgetown  are  expected  to  live  at  Eucker 
Hall.  The  hall  is  under  the  care  of  a  matron  and  assistant. 

The  handsomest  and  most  modern  hall  on  the  campus  is  the  New 
College  Building,  erected  in  1893,  at  a  cost  of  $35,000,  on  a  site  close  to 
and  just  east  of  Eecitation  Hall.  It  is  constructed  of  brick,  with  stone 
base  and  trimmings,  is  nicely  finished  in  its  interior,  with  all  modern 
conveniences,  is  well  arranged  for  the  purposes  intended,  and  from  the 
standpoint  of  architecture  and  utility  is  the  gem  of  the  campus.  In 
this  building  are  the  chapel,  library  and  Dudley  reading  room,  gymna- 
sium, museum,  and  the  two  men's  literary  societies,  all  of  which  have 
commodious  and  well-arranged  quarters.  The  chapel  has  a  seating 
capacity  of  500  persons. 

The  library  now  numbers  some  12,000  volumes.  A  large  portion  of 
this  collection  is  made  up  of  gifts  of  Baptist  ministers  and  other  friends 
of  the  college  from  time  to  time,  and  the  library  is  well  provided  with 
treatises  on  theology.  There  is  a  file  of  the  Baptist  Chronicle  and  also 
partial  files  of  several  old  Kentucky  denominational  and  secular  news- 
papers. For  a  long  time  there  was  no  fund  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
library,  and  in  consequence  it  was  entirely  dependent  for  its  growth  on 
the  benevolence  of  friends  of  the  college.  Quite  recently  this  deficiency 
has  been  partially  supplied,  and  the  income  of  the  Newton  and  Dudley 
funds,  which  is  about  $500  annually,  is  now  used  in  the  purchase  of 
additions  for  the  library  and  for  the  maintenance  of  a  file  of  American 
and  European  periodicals  in  the  E.  M.  Dudley  reading  room,  which  is 
a  part  of  the  library.  The  post  of  librarian  is  filled  at  present  by  the 
professor  of  history  and  political  science,  Dr.  Arthur  Yager,  who  also 
has  an  assistant  librarian  to  aid  him  in  the  discharge  of  the  clerical 
duties  of  the  office. 

The  museum  contains  nearly  7,000  specimens,  representing  the  differ- 
ent fields  of  mineralogy,  geology,  anthropology,  and  natural  history,  all 
of  which  have  been  contributed  at  various  times  by  generous  friends. 

The  college  is  also  equipped  in  its  laboratories  with  scientific  appa- 
ratus valued  at  $2,000. 


154  HISTOKY   OF   HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

The  gymnasium,  which  occupies  a  part  of  this  building,  has  an  area 
of  50  by  70  feet  and  a,  height  of  26.  The  equipment  is  excellent. 
Twelve  feet  from  the  floor  is  a  gallery  and  running  track,  and  in  the 
basement  there  are  a  swimming  pool,  baths,  and  124  lockers.  Eegular 
exercise  in  the  gymnasium  is  now  required  of  all  students.  Within  a 
few  hundred  yards  of  the  gymnasium  is  the  new  athletic  field  and 
quarter-mile  running  track. 

In  the  addition  to  the  above  buildings  should  be  mentioned  also  the 
Academy  Building,  standing  about  150  feet  to  the  west  of  Eecitation 
Hall,  a  small,  severely  plain  brick  building,  in  which  is  housed  the 
preparatory  department.  This  was  the  successor  of  the  old  Eittenhouse 
Academy  Building,  and  was  erected  shortly  after  the  building  of  Eeci- 
tation Hall. 

Opposite  the  south  side  of  the  campus  is  another  lot  of  5  acres 
belonging  to  the  college,  and  upon  which  the  trustees  erected  in  1890 
a  home  for  the  president.  This  house  is  large,  modern  in  type,  and  is 
built  of  brick.  It  cost  $7,000,  and  was  first  occupied  by  the  late  Dr. 
E.  M.  Dudley. 

COEDUCATION. 

The  history  of  coeducation  at  Georgetown  College  is  closely  con- 
nected with  that  of  the  Georgetown  Female  Seminary.  As  early  as 
1846  Professor  Farnum,  who  came  to  Georgetown  College  with  Presi- 
dent Giddiugs  in  1839,  on  grounds  hard  by  the  college  campus,  estab- 
lished a  seminary  for  young  ladies.  This  institution  was  conducted 
successfully  by  him  until  1865,  when  fire  destroyed  the  seminary  build- 
ing. The  school  was  abandoned  for  a  time,  but  in  1869  was  reorgan- 
ized, this  time  under  the  control  of  the  governing  body  of  the  college — 
the  trustees  of  the  Kentucky  Baptist  Education  Society.  Prof.  J.  J. 
Eucker,  of  the  chair  of  mathematics  and  physics  in  the  college,  became 
the  principal  of  the  seminary.  A  new  building  was  erected,  and  for 
this  and  the  5  acres  of  recreation  grounds  surrounding  the  seminary 
the  principal  paid  to  the  college  an  annual  rental  of  $600. 

On  June  10, 1885,  the  trustees  of  the  college  passed  a  resolution  pro- 
viding for  the  admission  of  young  ladies  from  the  seminary  to  classes 
in  the  college,  and  providing  further  that  the  college  work  thus  accom- 
plished by  them  should  be  fully  recognized  in  the  degrees  conferred 
upon  them  in  the  seminary  by  authority  of  the  board.  The  board  was 
carefully  feeling  its  way,  testing  public  opinion,  and  had  no  reason  to 
be  discouraged  at  the  results  of  its  experiment.  Professor  Eucker 
himself  was  an  ardent  champion  of  coeducation  in  the  college,  and  fre- 
quently urged  the  trend  of  modern  higher  education  in  that  direction. 
There  was  but  one  more  step  needed.  This  was  taken  April  12, 1892, 
when  the  board  appointed  a  committee  to  consider  the  question  of 
making  "a  new  adjustment  of  the  existing  relations  of  the  college  and 
seminary."  President  Dudley  was  the  chairman  of  this  committee, 


GEORGETOWN   COLLEGE.  155 

and  on  June  7  following  presented  its  report.    The  report  was  as 
follows : 

Your  committee  would  recommend  that  in  government  and  instruction  Georgetown 
Female  Seminary  be  turned  over  to  the  faculty  of  Georgetown  College,  and  that  so 
far  as  they  may  be  prepared  for  the  college  classes,  the  young  ladies  shall  be  admitted 
to  these  classes  and  be  taught  by  the  college  professors. 

We  would  recommend  that  upon  all  the  young  ladies  who  may  complete  a  course 
of  study  leading  up  to  any  one  of  the  degrees  which  the  college  confers,  such  degree 
shall  be  conferred,  whether  it  be  B.  S.,  B.  A.,  or  M.  A.  Further,  that  to  any  young 
lady  who  may  complete  the  studies  a  certificate  of  proficiency  shall  be  given. 

We  would  recommend  that  the  boarding  department  of  the  Female  Seminary, 
together  with  the  departments  of  art  and  music,  be  left  in  the  hands  of  Prof.  J.  J. 
Rucker  for  another  year,  and  subject  entirely  to  his  control. 

We  would  recommend  that,  not  later  than  the  1st  day  of  May,  1893,  the  president 
of  the  college,  after  consultation  with  the  faculty,  shall  make  a  report  to  a  called 
meeting  of  the  trustees  of  the  Kentucky  Baptist  Education  Society  of  the  practical 
working  of  this  new  plan  of  conducting  the  institutions  jointly,  and,  if  so  recom- 
mended by  the  faculty  of  Georgetown  College,  the  formal  consolidation  of  the  two 
institutions  shall  be  promulged  in  the  college  catalogue  of  1892-93,  and  the  names 
of  the  young  men  and  young  ladies  shall  appear  together  as  students  of  Georgetown 
College.  If  at  the  end  of  the  session  of  1892-93  it  is  desired  to  make  a  new  arrange- 
ment for  the  music,  art,  and  boarding  departments  of  the  seminary,  there  will  be 
ample  time  for  so  doing. 

Coeducation  in  the  college  was  now  an  accomplished  fact,  for  the 
experiment  met  with  unqualified  success,  and  such  was  the  report  of 
the  president  before  a  special  meeting  of  the  board  of  trustees  held 
February  13, 1893.  In  the  college  catalogue  of  1892-93  the  names  of  the 
men  and  women  appear  together  for  the  first  time  and  on  an  equal  foot- 
ing in  all  respects.  In  the  course  of  a  year  the  departments  of  music 
and  art  were  likewise  absorbed  by  the  college,  and  with  the  building  of 
the  new  women's  dormitory,  Eucker  Hall,  in  1894,  and  the  conversion  of 
the  seminary  building  into  a  dormitory  for  men,  as  described  elsewhere, 
the  work  of  consolidation  was  complete. 

COURSES  OF  INSTRUCTION. 

The  curriculum  is  now  arranged  upon  the  group  system.  There  are 
three  courses  leading  to  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts,  as  follows:  The 
classical  course,  the  modern  language  course,  and  the  English  historical 
course.  Besides  these  there  are  two  other  courses  leading  to  the  degree 
of  bachelor  of  science — the  mathematical  scientific  course  and  the 
English  scientific  course;  and  two  courses  leading  to  the  degree  of 
bachelor  of  letters — the  belles-lettres  musical  course  and  the  belles- 
lettres  course.  Of  these  seven  courses,  all  except  the  last  require  four 
years'  work;  the  last  but  three  years. 

The  last  two  courses  are  not  so  severe  as  the  first  five  and  are  pro- 
vided for  those  who  desire  to  devote  their  attention  to  musical  studies, 
the  modern  languages,  and  a  few  other  branches  in  the  field  of  general 
culture. 


156 


HISTORY   OF   HIGHER   EDUCATION    IN   KENTUCKY. 


The  degree  of  master  of  arts  is  conferred  upon  those  who  complete 
one  year's  work  of  four  recitations  daily  in  addition  to  the  full  require- 
ments of  any  of  the  A.  B.  courses. 

The  scheme  of  courses  and  degrees  now  offered  at  Georgetown  Col- 
lege (1898)  is  as  follows: 

Synopsis  of  courses  and  degrees. 


Courses. 

First  year. 

Second  year. 

Third  year. 

Fourth  yeai. 

Degree. 

Classical  course.  . 

Junior  English, 
junior  Latin, 
junior  Greek, 
junior  mathe- 
matics. 

Senior   Latin, 
senior  Greek, 
intermediate 
mathematics. 

Senior  English, 
chemistry   and 
biology,  his- 
tory,   physiol- 
ogy*. 

Psychology,  etc., 
ethics  and  logic, 
physics,  politi- 
cal science, 
Bible  and  evi- 
dences of  Chris- 
tianity. 

A.B. 

Modern  language 
course. 

Junior  English, 
junior  Latin, 
junior  mathe- 
matics, junior 
French. 

Senior  Latin, 
intermediate 
mathematics, 
senior  French, 
physiology  J. 

Senior  English, 
chemistry    and 
biology,  his- 
tory, junior 
German  . 

Psychology,  etc., 
politicalscience, 
Bible  and  evi- 
dences of  Chris- 
tianity, senior 
German,  phys- 
ics £. 

A.B. 

English,   histor- 
ical course. 

Junior  Latin, 
junior  English, 
mathematics. 

Intermediate 
English,  sen- 
ior Latin,  in- 
termediate 
mathematics, 
history. 

Senior  English, 
senior  mathe- 
matics, politi- 
cal science, 
chemistry  J, 
physics  £. 

Literary  criti- 
cism, American 
history,  psy- 
chology, ethics, 
etc.,  Bible  and 
evidences  of 
Christianity. 

A.  B. 

Mathematical, 
scientific 
course. 

Junior  English, 
junior  mathe- 
matics, French 
or  German, 
chemistry  and 
biology. 

Intermediate 
English,  in- 
termed  iate 
mathematics, 
French  or  Ger- 
man,   c  h  e  m  - 
istry  and  biol- 

oygy- 

Senior  English, 
senior  mathe- 
matics, history, 
geology   and 
physiology. 

Psychology,  etc., 
politicalscience, 
physics  and 
mechanics. 

B.S. 

English,     scien- 
tific course. 

Junior  English, 
junior  mathe- 
matics, chem- 
istry and  biol- 
ogy- 

Intermediate 
English,  in- 
termediate 
mathematics, 
history,  chem- 
istry and  biol- 
ogy. 

Senior  English, 
political  science, 
physics  and 
mechanics, 
geology  and 
physiology. 

Literary  criti- 
cism, American 
history,  psy- 
chology, ethics, 
etc.,  Bible  and 
evidences  of 
Christianity. 

B.S. 

Belles   lettres, 
musical  course. 

Junior  English, 
junior  French 
or  German, 
music. 

Junior  mathe- 
matics, senior 
French  or  Ger- 
man, music. 

Senior  English, 
chemistry  and 
biology,  music. 

History,  political 
science,  music. 

B.  L. 

Belles    lettres 
course. 

Junior  English, 
junior  mathe- 
matics, junior 
French  or  Ger- 
man. 

Intermediate 
English,  in- 
termediate 
mathematics, 
history,  sen- 
ior French  or 
German. 

Senior  English, 
political  science, 
psychology, 
ethics,  etc., 
physiology  and 
geology. 

B.L. 

One  year  of  work  additional  to  any  of  the  A.  B..cours 

M 

A.M. 

The  present  curriculum,  given  above,  has  only  been  in  force  during 
the  past  three  years.  Prior  to  that  time  there  were  simply  two  general 
courses 5  one  a  classical  course,  leading  to  the  degree  of  A.  B.;  the 


GEORGETOWN    COLLEGE.  157 

other  a  scientific  course  and  inferior  to  the  first,  which  led  to  the 
degree  of  B.  S.  Each  of  these  courses  required  four  years  of  study. 
As  indicating-  the  scope  of  these  courses,  we  find  in  an  early  catalogue 
the  following  statement:1 

Any  one  passing  satisfactory  examinations  in  English,  physical  science,  mathe- 
matics, history  and  political  economy,  and  mental  and  moral  philosophy  is  entitled 
to  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  sciences.  One  who,  in  addition  to  these,  has  accom- 
plished the  Latin  and  Greek  courses  (first,  second,  and  third  years),  is  entitled  to 
the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts.  The  student  who,  in  addition  to  courses 

required  for  the  A.  B.  degree,  will  accomplish  the  French  and  German  languages, 
shall  receive  the  degree  of  master  of  arts. 

Students  aspiring  to  the  A.  M.  degree  were  advised  to  take  two 
additional  years,  making  six  in  all." 

It  was  further  provided  also  that  anyone  who  wished  might  elect 
such  courses  as  he  desired  without  reference  to  the  completion  of  a 
course  leading  to  a  degree,  and  upon  finishing  the  full  course  in  any 
department  would  receive  a  certificate  of  " proficiency"  in  that  depart- 
ment. This  feature  of  the  college  work,  together  with  the  grouping  of 
the  studies  by  departments  with  a  prescribed  course  in  each  depart- 
ment, dates  from  the  beginning  of  President  Manly's  administration. 
Dr.  Manly  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  elective  or  free  system,  and  sought 
to  open  the  curriculum  to  those  who  could  not  contemplate  a  full 
college  course. 

Among  the  recent  improvements  in  the  curriculum  we  note  the  rais- 
ing of  the  requirements  for  the  degree  of  B.  S.,  making  them  equivalent 
to  those  of  the  A.  B.  course. 

The  recent  expansion  of  the  courses  of  study  and  the  enlargement 
of  the  faculty  account  for  the  increased  facilities  of  the  college  and  the 
greater  variety  of  options  now  afforded  the  student.  The  establish- 
ment of  a  department  of  history  and  political  science  in  1885  and  a 
department  of  English  language  and  literature  in  1897  have  greatly 
enriched  the  curriculum.  Besides,  there  should  be  mentioned  also  the 
addition  of  a  year's  study  in  the  Bible  and  Christian  evidences  to  the 
president's  chair.  Excellent  courses  in  French  and  German  are  now 
given,  covering  two  years,  of  four  hours  per  week,  in  each  language. 
The  trustees  have  as  yet  not  created  a  modern-language  department, 
and  we  find  the  rather  unique  combination  of  German  with  the  chair  of 
Greek  and  of  French  with  the  Latin  chair. 

Besides  the  regular  courses  leading  to  the  above-mentioned  degrees, 
there  are  other  departments  of  study  which  have  recently  been  estab- 
lished in  the  college  and  have  enlarged  the  elective  opportunities  of  the 
student,  viz: 

The  School  of  Music,  established  in  1894,  which  is  now  in  charge  of  a 
director  and  faculty  of  six,  and  in  1897-98  had  an  enrollment  of  70 
students. 

1  Catalogue  of  Georgetown  College,  1889-90,  page  21. 


158  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

The  Department  of  Military  Science  and  Tactics,  which  was  created 
in  1894  and  is  under  the  direction  of  Capt.  P.  M.  B.  Travis,  of  the 
Eleventh  United  States  Infantry.  Military  drill  is  required  three  times 
a  week  of  all  students,  except  of  seniors  and  others  who  have  special 
and  sufficient  reasons  for  exemption.  All  students  enrolled  for  military 
drill  are  required  to  wear  a  regulation  cadet-gray  uniform. 

The  Normal  Department,  under  the  direction  of  a  principal  and  an 
assistant.  This  department  was  created  in  the  winter  of  1895.  Its 
object  is  to  provide  a  course  for  those  who  desire  to  fit  themselves  for 
positions  in  the  public  schools  of  Kentucky,  and  also  for  those  teachers 
who  desire  to  perfect  themselves  in  matters  and  methods  of  study. 
The  normal  course  begins  on  January  24,  and  continues  for  sixteen 
weeks,  with  six  working  days  each  week.  The  studies  include  those 
that  are  required  by  law  for  county  and  State  certificates,  while  some 
attention  is  given  to  pedagogy  and  laboratory  work  in  the  physical 
sciences.  Tuition  is  free,  save  the  matriculation  fee  of  $5,  and  col- 
lege classes  and  the  other  activities  of  college  life  are  freely  opened  to 
this  class  of  students.  Success  has  attended  the  introduction  of  this 
department.  The  first  session  (January,  1895)  opened  with  a  class  of 
twenty  two  teachers.  The  number  in  181)8  was  fourteen. 

There  is  also  an  art  department  and  a  department  of  public  speak- 
ing and  reading,  each  in  charge  of  one  instructor,  and  the  work  in  each 
is  elective  and  the  charges  extra. 

There  is  also  a  practical  business  course,  covering  one  year's  work, 
and  including  studies  in  business  arithmetic,  commercial  law,  book- 
keeping, and  stenography. 

THE   ACADEMY. 

The  academy  is  as  old  as  the  college  and  is  the  preparatory  depart- 
ment of  the  latter.  In  fact,  it  is  a  part  of  the  college,  under  the  man- 
agement of  the  same  trustees  and  the  same  faculty.  It  is  a  large  and 
direct  feeder,  and  a  considerable  portion  of  the  college  students  have 
had  a  part,  if  not  all,  of  their  preparatory  training  here.  The  academy 
faculty  includes  a  principal,  an  associate  principal,  and  three  assistants. 

The  curriculum  is  divided  into  five  grades,  covering  in  all  five  years, 
beginning  in  the  first  grade  with  arithmetic,  mental  and  practical; 
elementary  grammar,  geography,  history,  reading,  spelling,  and  pen- 
manship, and  concluding  in  the  fifth  grade  with  the  the  following 
studies:  Higher  arithmetic  and  algebra,  grammar  and  rhetoric,  Latin 
(second  year),  Greek  (second  year),  and  physical  geography.  After 
this  the  academy  graduates  are  ready  for  admission  to  college. 

AFFILIATED   SCHOOLS. 

In  1896  the  trustees  of  the  Kentucky  Baptist  Education  Society 
acquired  Middleburg  Academy,  Middleburg,  Casey  County,  Ky.7  and 
have  since  adjusted  the  course  of  study  so  as  to  fit  students  for 
Georgetown  College. 


GEORGETOWN    COLLEGE.  159 

Bardstown  Male  and  Female  Institute,  of  Bardstown,  Ky.,  has 
within  the  past  year  also  been  recognized  as  an  affiliated  school,  and, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  students  from  the  two  academies  previously  men- 
tioned, its  graduates  are  admitted  to  the  college  without  examination. 

ADMISSIONS. 

The  requirements  for  admission  to  the  college  are  not  severe,  and  in 
tbis  particular  there  is  room  for  improvement.  However,  it  is  but  fair 
to  say  that  this  is  typical  of  educational  conditions  in  the  South,  where 
there  is  great  need  of  building  up  the  work  of  secondary  education  and 
a  sharper  and  better  differentiation  as  well  as  coordination  of  work 
between  the  fitting  school  and  the  college. 

In  the  last  catalogue  we  find  nothing  on  the  subject  of  "  admission 
to  college,'7  though  in  an  earlier  issue  we  do  find  these  statements : 
"Candidates  for  admission  to  the  junior  Latin  or  Greek  (freshman  work 
in  the  classical  course)  must  sustain  an  examination  in  the  preparatory 
department.  *  *  *  For  admission  to  any  class  in  the  college  a  fair 
acquaintance  with  the  English  grammar,  geography,  and  arithmetic  is 
required. n  *  *  * 

EXCERPTS  FROM  THE  COLLEGE  LAWS. 

Attendance  at  the  college  chapel  every  morning  at  9  o'clock  is  com- 
pulsory; likewise  attendance  upon  the  Sunday  services  of  some  one  of 
the  churches  is  required,  and  one  of  the  formalities  at  the  Monday 
chapel  is  the  calling  of  the  roll  to  determine  whether  or  not  this 
requirement  has  been  met. 

Students  must  obtain  the  approbation  of  the  faculty  in  the  choice  of  a  boarding 
house. 

No  student  will  be  permitted  to  be  absent  from  his  rooms  after  7  o'clock  at  night, 
without  leave,  except  to  attend  church  or  the  voluntary  societies  connected  with 
the  college. 

No  student  shall  attend  any  exhibition  of  an  immoral  tendency  or  frequent  any 
barroom  or  tippling  house. 

No  student  will  be  permitted  to  enter  upon  the  grounds  or  premises  of  other  per- 
sons so  as  to  molest  or  injure  property,  or  to  associate  with  idle  or  vicious  company, 
or  to  engage  in  a  frolic  of  a  noisy,  disorderly,  or  immoral  nature. 

No  student  shall  carry  about  him  deadly  weapons,  or  take  any  part  in  a  duel,  on 
pain  of  immediate  expulsion. 

Parents  and  guardians  who  live  at  a  distance  are  requested  to  appoint  someone 
to  act  as  fiscal  guardian  of  their  children  and  wards  at  the  college. 

Ministerial  students  are  instructed  without  charge  for  tuition. 

No  young  minister  should  think  of  leaving  home  for  college  until  he  has  received 
a  fair  common-school  education  [a  piece  of  excellent  advice  too  often  unheeded]. 

Such  a  student  will  not  be  retained  any  longer  than  he  evinces  true  piety  and 
encouraging  improvement  in  his  studies,  and,  as  tuition  is  gratis,  a  note  of  obliga- 
tion to  refund,  with  interest,  the  amount  of  tuition  received  shall  be  taken  each 
session,  which  shall  be  in  force  only  when  the  deportment  shall  disappoint  or  where 
the  ministry  shall  be  abandoned  or  made  subordinate  to  some  secular  pursuit. 

For  Sunday  and  all  public  occasions  the  young  ladies  are  required  to  wear  uni- 
forms of  substantial  inexpensive  material,  suitable  to  the  seasons,  but  for  school 
purposes  they  are  requested  to  wear  simple  clothing. 


160  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

The  object  of  this  requirement  is  to  prevent  unnecessary  ostentation 
and  display  on  the  part  of  some  who  might  be  blessed  with  more  abun- 
dant means  than  others  of  their  classmates  and  perhaps  with  an  admix- 
ture of  bad  taste.  Such  a  bad  ethical  example  would  offend  the  dic- 
tates of  common  sense.  No  such  requirement,  however,  is  exacted  of 
the  men. 

THE   LITERARY   SOCIETIES. 

In  accordance  with  the  traditions  of  the  South,  and  of  Kentucky  in 
particular,  a  great  deal  of  attention  is  paid  by  the  students  to  the  art 
of  public  speaking  and  debate.  The  college  is  proud  of  her  three 
societies,  the  Tau  Theta  Kappa,  the  Ciceronian,  and  the  Euepiau,  the 
first  two  for  the  men,  the  last  for  the  women  of  the  college. 

The  Tau  Theta  Kappa  and  the  Ciceronian  are  rival  societies  and 
each  has  a  large  and  well-furnished  hall  in  the  new  college  building. 
Both  were  organized  about  the  same  time,  in  1839,  in  rooms  of  the  old 
Eittenhouse  Academy  building.  In  the  newer  academy  building, 
erected  in  its  place,  quarters  were  provided  for  each  of  these  societies, 
and  here  they  remained  until  1894,  when  they  moved  into  the  new  college 
building.  They  have  meetings  once  a  week,  and  the  programme,  which 
is  practically  the  same  as  that  adhered  to  from  the  foundation  of  these 
societies,  is  as  follows:  Oration,  declamation,  debate,  reading,  criticism, 
and  oracle.  The  societies  are  incorporated,  and  during  the  commence- 
ment season  confer  diplomas  upon  their  graduating  members.  They 
own  a  small  amount  of  personal  property,  the  most  important  part  of 
which  is  the  library  and  the  banner  of  the  society.  Each  of  them  has 
a  well-selected  library  of  about  4,000  volumes,  and  these  collections 
serve  as  important  adjuncts  to  the  college  library,  and  in  some  respects 
are  superior  to  the  latter.  These  societies  have  now  a  membership  of 
80.  Each  holds  occasionally  public  exercises  and  once  a  year  a  public 
declamatory  contest  and  in  addition  contributes  three  contestants  to 
the  primary  oratorical  contest  in  the  spring,  from  whom  (six  in  all)  an 
orator  is  chosen  to  represent  the  college  in  the  intercollegiate  contest 
held  in  Lexington,  Ky. 

The  Euepian  Society  is  similar  in  many  particulars  to  the  men's 
societies.  It  was  organized  in  January,  1871,  in  the  old  Georgetown 
Female  Seminary,  its  object  being  cultivation  by  debates,  essays,  reci- 
tations, selections,  criticisms,  etc.,  and  a  good  deal  of  attention  is  now 
given  to  literary  studies  of  well-known  authors.  Meetings  were  held 
regularly  in  the  chapel  of  the  old  seminary  building  until  1896,  when 
the  society  moved  into  the  quarters  provided  for  it  in  the  new  Eucker 
Hall.  The  society  was  incorporated  June  11,  1895,  under  the  laws  of 
Kentucky  and  a  charter  granted,  and  since  that  time  has,  like  the  men's 
societies,  conferred  diplomas  upon  its  graduates  during  commencement 
time.  Their  library  now  numbers  about  350  volumes. 

These  societies  are  on  friendly  terms  with  one  another.    Between  the 


GEORGETOWN    COLLEGE.  ,161 

men's  societies,  however,  there  is  always  considerable  rivalry  for 
prestige.  At  the  opening  of  the  academic  year  there  is  active  u  cam- 
paigning" for  recruits  among  the  new  students  by  both  societies  and 
at  times  the  contest  waxes  warm.  This  over,  the  best  of  relations 
usually  prevail.  There  are  no  fraternities  or  secret  societies  at 
Georgetown. 

THE  INTERCOLLEGIATE   ORATORICAL   ASSOCIATION   OF  KENTUCKY. 

The  greatest  event  of  the  academic  year,  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  student,  is  the  intercollegiate  oratorical  contest.  The  association 
was  organized  in  1888  and  now  embraces  five  Kentucky  colleges,  as  fol- 
lows :  Georgetown,  Centre  College,  State  College,  Kentucky  University, 
and  Central  University.  Each  college  sends  one  representative  to  this 
contest,  which  occurs  on  the  first  Friday  in  April.  Lexington  is  the 
meeting  ground,  though  the  plan  was  formerly  to  alternate  between 
the  diiferent  institutions.  The  greatest  enthusiasm  is  exhibited  at 
these  contests,  comparing  favorably  with  the  display  of  enthusiasm 
shown  over  great  athletic  victories  in  many  an  Eastern  college,  and  the 
winning  orator  is  awarded  a  handsome  medal,,  which  is  a  source  of 
lifelong  pride. 

There  have  been  eleven  of  these  contests  in  all,  Georgetown  having 
won  three1  of  them  and  holding  second  place,  next  to  Centre  College, 
the  winner  of  four. 

There  are  other  activities  at  Georgetown  College,  for  the  promotion 
of  which  there  are  various  organizations.  It  will  suffice,  perhaps,  to 
mention  the  college  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  which,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  regular  religious  exercises  in  the  college,  also  conducts  a  city 
mission  work,  and  the  athletic  association,  for  the  general  direction  of 
the  various  athletic  sports  and  games,  and  which  every  student  is 
expected  to  join,  otherwise  he  is  excluded  from  the  privilege  of  engaging 
in  athletics. 

COLLEGE   PUBLICATIONS. 

The  first  college  catalogue  was  published  in  1846,  and  every  year 
since  then  a  catalogue  has  been  issued  with  the  exception  of  the  first 
two  years  of  the  war — 1861-62  and  1862-63.  At  intervals  of  five  years 
the  college  issues  also  a  general  catalogue  containing  complete  lists  of 
the  trustees,  professors,  and  graduates  of  Georgetown  College.  There 
are  no  annually  published  president's  or  trustees'  reports  or  statements. 

In  1850  the  Ciceronian  Literary  Society  began  the  issue  of  the  first 
student  publication,  called  the  Ciceronian  Magazine,  a  monthly  of  40 
pages,  and  the  first  of  its  kind  in  the  West.  This  publication  was 
continued  for  six  years,  when  it  was  stopped  for  lack  of  support.  In 


1  The  winners  of  these  contests  are  as  follows:  In  the  contest  of  1891,  J.  Macklin 
Stevenson,  '92 ;  in  the  contest  of  1895,  Jauies  Madison  Shelburne,  '97  j  in  the  contest 
of  1897,  Will  P.  Stuart,  '97. 

2127— No.  25 11 


162  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

March,  1857,  the  Georgetown  College  Magazine  appeared  as  a  suc- 
cessor, with  the  joint  support  of  the  two  societies. 

After  a  few  years  it  was  abandoned,  but  revived  again  in  1885, 
continued  for  two  years  longer,  and  was  then  finally  discontinued. 
Eecently,  however  (January,  1896),  a  new  college  journal  has  appeared 
under  the  title  of  the  Georgetonian.  This  publication  is  conducted  by 
the  three  literary  societies  in  cooperation  with  the  faculty,  and  is  still  in 
existence.  In  1898  appeared  the  first  college  annual,  Belle  of  the  Blue, 
the  joint  product  of  the  three  literary  societies  and  of  the  Y.  M.  0.  A. 

OFFICERS    OF   THE    COLLEGfE. 

Georgetown  College  has  had  since  its  foundation  11  presidents  and 
90  professors  and  tutors  on  its  rolls.  Some  of  the  latter  gave  the 
greater  parts  of  their  lives  to  faithful  work  in  this  institution,  notably 
Professor  Faruam,  who  served  the  college  in  the  chair  of  natural 
science  from  1839  to  1887;  Prof.  Danford  Thomas,  who  occupied  the 
chair  of  Greek  and  Latin  from  1838  to  1882,  and  Prof.  J.  J.  Eucker, 
who,  as  professor  of  mathematics  and  astronomy,  began  his  career  in 
Georgetown  College  in  1855,  served  as  principal  of  the  seminary  from 
1869  until  1892,  and  is  still  in  active  service,  his  chair  at  present  being 
mathematics  and  physics. 

The  roster  of  the  present  faculty  (June,  1898),  together  with  their 
departments,  is  as  follows : 

Augustus  Cleveland  Davidson,  D.  D.,  president1  (E.  M.  Dudley 
memorial  chair),  professor  of  psychology,  ethics,  logic,  and  Christian 
evidences;  James  Jefferson  Eucker,  LL.  D.  (the  McCalla-Galloway 
professorship),  professor  of  mathematics  and  physics;  Arthur  Yager, 
Ph.  D.2  (the  students7  chair),  professor  of  history  and  political  science; 
John  Foster  Eastwood,  Ph.  D.  (the  Maria  Atherton-Farnam  chair  of 
natural  science),  professor  of  chemistry  and  biology;  Joseph  Edward 
Harry,  Ph.  D.,  professor  of  Greek  and  German ;  John  Calvin  Metcalf, 
A.  M.,  professor  of  English  language  and  literature;  David  Edgar 
Fogle,  A.  M.,  professor  of  Latin  and  French;  Capt.  P.  M.  B.  Travis, 
(West  Point),  (Eleventh  United  States  Infantry),  military  science  and 
tactics. 

Music  department:  Charles  Edward  Hills,  director;  Miss  Elise 
Dorst,  voice  and  physical  culture;  Miss  Corneille  Overstreet,  piano 
and  theory;  Miss  Wiriauna  Smith,  violin;  Miss  Jennie  Garnett,  piano; 
Miss  Birdie  Ewing,  piano  and  organ. 

The  academy:  Stonewall  Jackson  Pulliam,  A.  M.,  principal;  Miss 
Eowena  Athelia  Pollard,  associate  principal;  Miss  Eugenia  Pulliam, 
assistant;  Miss  Margaret  Hackley,  assistant;  Miss  Sallie  Ann  Tarle- 
ton,  assistant. 

Normal  department:  Alvus  Lemuel  Ehoton,  principal;  W.  Marion 
Smith,  assistant. 


Resigned  August,  1898.          2  At  present  acting  as  chairman  of  the  faculty. 


GEORGETOWN    COLLEGE.  163 

Art  department:  Miss  Kate  Wilson. 

Public  speaking  and  reading:  Miss  Mary  S.  Hamilton. 

Officers:  The  president,  superintendent  of  college  property;  Arthur 
Yager,  librarian  and  secretary  of  faculty;  James  Kirtley  Nunnelley, 
assistant  librarian;  J.  E.  Harry,  director  of  gymnasium;  Kev.  W.  B. 
Crampton,  general  agent. 

THE   BOARD   OF   TRUSTEES. 

The  board  of  trustees  consists  of  twenty-four  members.  Each  mem- 
ber is  elected  for  a  term  of  four  years,  and  one-fourth  of  the  entire 
number  retire  at  the  end  of  each  year  and  are  eligible  to  reelection. 
The  officers  of  the  board  are  a  president,  a  recording  secretary,  and 
a  treasurer.  Beside  these,  there  are  two  important  committees:  (1) 
the  executive  committee  of  eight,  made  up  of  the  three  officers  of 
the  board,  the  president  of  the  college,  and  four  other  trustees  (the 
chairman  of  this  committee  is  the  president  of  the  board,  ex  officio), 
and  (2)  the  board  of  ministerial  education,  a  committee  of  four  under 
the  chairmanship  of  the  president  of  the  college. 

During  its  entire  history  the  college  has  been  served  by  108  differ- 
ent trustees,1  and  the  board  has  had  8  presidents.  The  presidents  of 
the  board,  with  their  terms  of  office,  are  as  follows:  (1)  Silas  M.  ^oel, 
Frankfort,  Ky.,  1829  to  (unknown);2  Elder  Thomas  P.Dudley,  Lexing- 
ton, Ky.  (unknown)  to  1838;  (3)  Eoger  Quarles,  esq.,2 1838  to  1856;  (4) 
E.  M.  Ewing,  M.  D.,2  1856  to  1864;  (5)  Governor  James  F.  Kobiuson, 
Georgetown,  Ky.,  1864  to  1881;  (6)  D.  A.  Chenault,  esq.,  Eichmond, 
Ky.,  1881  to  1886;  (7)  William  M.  Pratt,  D.  D.,  Louisville,  Ky.,  1886  to 
1896;  (8)  John  A.  Lewis,  M.  D.,  Georgetown,  Ky.,  1896  to . 

Judge  George  Y.  Payne,  A.  B.,  of  Georgetown,  has  faithfully  and 
efficiently  served  as  treasurer  of  the  college  since  1873,  and  is  the 
present  holder  of  that  office.  Upon  him  falls  a  large  share  of  the 
responsibility  for  the  investment  and  care  of  the  college  funds,  and  in 
turn  he  merits  a  considerable  share  of  the  credit  for  the  success  with 
which  these  trusts  have  been  administered  during  the  past  twenty -six 
years. 

GRADUATES. 

The  graduates  of  the  college  now  number  537.  Among  these  names 
we  find  all  walks  of  life  represented,  and  many  who  have  distinguished 
themselves  in  the  pulpit,  press,  and  the  bar,  and  have  become  eminent 
in  the  public  service  of  the  country.  In  the  legislature,  in  Congress, 
in  the  judiciary,  and  in  the  diplomatic  service  are  found  alumni  of 
Georgetown.  The  number  of  students  enrolled  during  the  history  of 
the  college  is  much  larger  than  is  indicated  by  the  number  of  gradu- 

1 A  list  of  the  trustees  will  be  found  in  the  last   (fourth)  general  catalogue  of 
Georgetown  College  (1895),  pp.  55-57. 
2  Records  lost  or  incomplete. 


164  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

ates,  as  a  large  number  left  college  before  the  senior  year,  but  there  is 
no  means  of  knowing  the  exact  number,  as  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  early  records  were  accidentally  destroyed  by  fire. 

The  catalogue  of  1897-98  shows  a  total  enrollment  of  357  students  in 
college,  academy,  and  normal  department.  Of  these,  179  are  in  college, 
14  in  the  normal  course,  and  the  rest  in  the  academy.  Of  the  total 
number  225  are  men  and  132  are  women. 

Kentucky  is  represented  by  320  students,  the  remaining  37  being 
drawn  from  14  other  States. 

The  academic  year  is  divided  into  two  terms.  The  first  term  begins 
on  the  first  Tuesday  in  September,  the  second  term  on  the  fourth  Tues- 
day in  January,  and  closes  with  commencement  day  on  the  second 
Wednesday  in  June. 

COMMENCEMENT. 

The  chief  events  of  commencement  week  are  the  baccalaureate  ser 
mon  by  the  president,  in  the  college  chapel,  on  the  Sunday  (at  10  a.  m.) 
preceding  the  second  Wednesday  in  June.  This  is  followed  in  the 
evening  by  the  sermon  before  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
usually  preached  by  some  distinguished  alumnus. 

On  Monday  evening  occurs  the  annual  address  before  the  literary 
societies.  The  address  of  1898  was  given  by  President  B.  L.  Whitman, 
D.  1).,  of  Columbian  University,  Washington,  D.  C. 

On  Tuesday  afternoon  the  board  of  trustees  meets,  and  at  a  later 
hour  the  Woman's  Association  of  Georgetown  College  (organized  in 
1897).  At  5  p.  m.,  the  same  afternoon,  the  Kentucky  Baptist  Educa- 
tion Society  meets  for  the  election  of  trustees  and  other  business.  At 
night  an  address  is  delivered  before  the  students'  association.. 

On  Wednesday,  commencement  day,  college  degrees  and  honors  are 
awarded  at  the  morning  exercises ;  in  the  afternoon  the  literary  societies 
confer  diplomas  upon  their  respective  graduating  members,  and  at 
night  occurs  the  president's  levee,  with  which  the  exercises  of  com- 
mencement week  are  always  concluded. 

At  Georgetown  there  is  no  class  day,  which  forms  so  marked  a  fea- 
ture of  the  commencement  festivities  in  many  of  our  American  colleges. 

THE   OUTLOOK. 

The  immediate  outlook  for  Georgetown  College  is  highly  encourag- 
ing. In  its  past  achievements  and  in  the  character  of  its  graduates  is 
found  inspiration  for  the  future.  The  increase  in  the  attendance  of 
students,  the  expansion  of  the  courses  of  study,  the  recent  growth  in 
the  endowment,  the  new  buildings  and  enlarged  faculty,  and  better 
facilities  generally,  all  these  are  signs  of  progress.  The  college  has 
more  than  held  its  own  in  comparison  with  the  efforts  of  its  contempo- 
raries and  rivals.  Kentucky  is  well  endowed  with  institutions  of  learn- 
ing, Only  12  miles  from  Georgetown,  at  Lexington,  are  two  vigorous 


GEORGETOWN    COLLEGE.  165 

competitors,  Kentucky  University  and  the  State  College,  and  within  a 
range  of  40  miles  are  two  strong  rivals  in  Centre  College,  at  Danville, 
and  Central  University,  at  Richmond.  Each  of  these,  to  be  sure,  has 
in  a  limited  degree  its  peculiar  constituency,  and  yet  they  are  all 
laborers  in  the  same  field. 

Georgetown  has  many  needs  and  is  doing  what  it  can  to  supply 
them.  A  general  agent  of  the  college,  the  Rev.  W.  B.  Crumpton,  is 
kept  constantly  in  the  field,  and  his  work  is  twofold:  First,  presenting 
the  claims  of  the  college  to  prospective  students;  and,  second,  securing 
financial  aid  for  the  work.  The  agent  is  also  at  present  cooperating 
with  another  organization  of  the  college,  formed  only  two  years  ago, 
the  Woman's  Association  of  Georgetown  College,  in  the  effort  to  raise 
a  fund  of  $50,000  from  the  women  of  Kentucky  to  create  the  woman's 
endowment.  The  object  of  this  fund  is  "  to  help  poor  girls  in  securing 
an  education." 

In  conclusion,  it  would  be  only  fitting  to  record  the  sentiment  of  the 
trustees  expressive  of  the  confident  faith  of  these  officers  in  their  trust: 

To  Him  to  whom  it  was  consecrated  by  our  fathers  in  the  beginning,  and  whose 
blessing  has  ever  attended  it,  we  commend  it  for  the  future. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

J.  H.  Spencer,  History  of  Kentucky  Baptists.  2  volumes,  1885.  See  especially 
Vol.  I,  599-761;  II,  41. 

The  Baptist  Chronicle,  1830,  passim. 

Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  2  volumes,  1874,  II,  698. 

Basil  Manly,  jr.,  The  Past  and  Future  of  Georgetown  College,  a  commencement 
address  delivered  at  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  college,  .June  21,  1879,  I>y  the 
president.  (Privately  printed.) 

H.  Marshall,  History  of  Kentucky,  2  volumes,  1824. 

William  B.  Allen,  History  of  Kentucky,  1872. 


Chapter  V. 

OTHER    MALE   AND    COEDUCATIONAL    INSTITUTIONS. 


KENTUCKY  MILITARY   INSTITUTE,  LYNDON. 

The  foundation  and  a  large  part  of  the  subsequent  success  of  Ken- 
tucky Military  Institute  are  due  to  Col.  R.  T.  P.  Allen,  who  graduated 
with  honor  at  West  Point  in  1834,  and  served  with  credit  in  the  Regu- 
lar Army  of  the  United  States  until  the  end  of  the  campaign  of  1S3U-37 
against  the  Seminole  Indians,  when  he  retired  to  private  life.  In  1838, 
he  became  professor  of  mathematics  and  civil  engineering  in  Alleghany 
College,  Meadville,  Pa.,  which  position  he  resigned,  in  1841,  to  accept  a 
similar  chair  in  Transylvania  University,  at  Lexington,  Ky.,  then  under 
the  presidency  of  Dr.  Bascorn,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  of 
which  Colonel  Allen  had,  by  that  time,  become  a  regular  clergyman. 

While  holding  his  chair  in  the  university  at  Lexington  Colonel  Allen 
conceived  the  idea  of  founding  a  high-grade  school,  in  which  military 
training  should  be  a  prominent  feature.  Accordingly,  having  resigned 
his  professorship,  he  in  1845,  with  the  cooperation  of  citizens  of  the 
community,  established  the  Kentucky  Military  Institute,  which  was 
located  at  Farmdale,  6  miles  from  Frankfort,  Ky.,  on  the  site  of  old 
Franklin  Springs,  a  noted  health  resort  since  the  early  history  of  the 
State. 

The  school  was  opened  in  the  fall  of  1845,  and  30  cadets  were  in 
attendance  during  its  first  session.  During  the  second  session  the 
matriculation  increased  to  40,  and  in  the  course  of  this  year,  on  Janu- 
ary 20, 1847,  an  act  of  incorporation  for  the  enterprise  was  secured  from 
the  legislature  of  the  State,  according  to  the  terms  of  which  the  insti- 
tution was  placed  under  the  direction  and  control  of  a  board  of  visitors 
appointed  by  the  governor  of  the  State,  who  is,  ex  officio,  inspector  of 
the  institute.  The  superintendent,  faculty,  and  cadets  are  constituted 
a  quasi  military  corps,  the  officers  being  commissioned  under  the  seal 
of  the  Commonwealth  and  being  responsible  to  the  board  of  visitors 
for  the  faithful  performance  of  their  prescribed  duties.  The  institu- 
tion has  always  been  really  a  private  enterprise,  its  only  relation  to 
the  State  being  that  the  latter  furnishes  its  military  equipment  and 
assumes  supervision  over  its  military  organization. 

166 


KENTUCKY    MILITARY    INSTITUTE.  167 

Colonel  Allen  was  connected  with  the  management  of  the  school  from 
its  foundation  until  1874,  except  that  he  severed  his  relation  with  it  in 
1848  for  a  short  time,  and  again  from  1854  to  1865,  during  which  time 
he  was  at  first  engaged  in  educational  enterprises  in  Texas,  and  later 
served  in  the  Confederate  army  with  distinguished  gallantry  as  a  colonel 
of  infantry. 

During  the'  early  history  of  the  school  Col.  E.  W.  Morgan,  also  a 
graduate  of  West  Point  and  an  educator  of  reputation,  was  associated 
with  Colonel  Allen  in  the  institution,  being  joint  proprietor  from  1851 
to  1854  and  becoming  sole  proprietor  in  1855.  Colonel  Morgan  was  a 
valuable  coadjutor  of  Colonel  Allen,  and  conducted  the  institution  with 
success  himself  until  the  opening  of  the  civil  war  in  1861,  when  most  of 
the  cadets  left  to  join  the  armies,  mainly  that  of  the  South,  from  which 
section  they  chiefly  came,  and  the  school  was  closed  until  1865,  at  which 
time  Colonel  Morgan  severed  his  connection  with  it.  He  subsequently 
became  professor  of  engineering  and  architecture  in  Lehigh  University, 
Pa. 

Two  courses  of  good  compass  had  been  early  inaugurated  by  the 
management  of  the  institution;  one,  in  which  ancient  languages  was 
prominent,  leading  to  the  degree  of  A.  B.;  and  the  other,  in  which 
mathematics  was  the  principal  feature,  leading  to  the  degree  of  C.  E. 
The  school  was  quite  successful  during  this  early  period  of  its  history, 
its  students  rising  in  number  to  150  in  1851  and  numbering  154  just 
prior  to  the  war.  The  first  graduating  class  of  4  members  was  sent 
out  in  1851,  and  for  the  next  ten  years  from  8  to  21  were  graduated 
each  year,  the  total  number  of  graduates  up  to  1861  inclusive  being 
144.  The  alumni  of  the  institution  took  a  prominent  part  and  secured 
a  high  position  in  the  civil  war,  as  it  furnished  in  that  struggle  two 
major-generals,  three  brigadier-generals,  and  a  number  of  colonels  and 
officers  of  lesser  rank.  Since  its  students  were  mainly  from  the  South, 
the  majority  of  them  naturally  espoused  the  cause  of  that  section. 

In  1865  Colonel  Allen  again  took  charge  of  the  institute,  which  soon 
had  a  larger  attendance  than  ever  before  in  its  history,  there  being  166 
students  in  1866-67  and  177  in  1867-68.  The  success  of  the  school 
continued  under  Colonel  Allen's  management  until  1874,  when  he 
decided  to  retire  from  the  profession  of  teaching,  in  which  he  consid- 
ered he  had  earned  a  well-merited  rest.  He  had  certainly  discharged 
with  credit  his  duties  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  as  a  soldier,  and  as 
an  educator. 

He  was  succeeded  in  the  superintendency  of  the  school  by  his  son, 
Col.  E.  D.  Allen,  who  had  graduated  from  the  institute  in  1851',  and, 
after  engaging  in  other  educational  enterprises,  had,  since  1866,  been 
associated  with  his  father  in  the  institute  faculty.  He  remained  as 
superintendent  of  the  school  until  1887,  when,  after  an  interval  of  a 
year,  he  was  succeeded  in  the  position  by  Col.  D.  F.  Boyd,  LL.D.,  a 
graduate  of  the  University  of  Virginia  and  a  teacher  of  many  years' 


168  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

experience.  Under  these  superintendents  commercial  and  normal 
courses  were  added  to  the  previous  curriculum,  and  the  institution  was 
otherwise  kept  abreast  of  the  demands  of  the  time.  It  was  upon  the 
whole  fairly  prosperous,  but  on  account  of  the  competition  of  endowed 
schools  and  the  financial  stringency  gradually  became  less  so  until 
1893,  when  Colonel  Boyd  resigned  and  the  school  was  suspended  for  a 
time. 

In  1896  Col.  C.  W.  Fowler,  recognizing  that  there  was  still  a  field  for 
such  an  institution  in  its  distinctively  military  character  and  govern- 
ment and  its  endeavor  as  far  as  possible  to  suit  the  needs  of  each 
individual  student,  secured  the  removal  of  the  institute — charter,  equip- 
ment, and  all — to  Lyndon,  9  miles  from  Louisville,  Ky.,  considered  in 
many  ways  a  more  eligible  location  than  the  old  one. 

Colonel  Fowler  is  an  alumnus  of  the  institution,  having  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  class  of  1878,  subsequent  to  which  he  had  been  for  several 
years  connected  with  its  faculty.  For  the  past  six  years  he  had  been 
superintendent  of  the  Kentucky  Training  School  at  Mount  Sterling, 
Ky.  He  became  the  superintendent  of  the  Kentucky  Military  Insti- 
tute on  September  1,  1890,  when  it  was  opened  in  its  new  quarters. 

The  new  situation  and  external  equipment  of  the  school  may  per- 
haps be  best  described  by  the  following  quotation  from  its  catalogue 
for  1897 : 

The  buildings  comprise  the  fine,  old  Omisby  mansion,  a  substantial  brick  struc- 
ture, besides  two  smaller  frame  buildings  and  a  gymnasium  and  drill  hall;  these 
buildings  are  situated  in  a  beautiful  blue-grass  lawn  of  about  4  acres,  shaded 
with  towering  forest  trees  and  evergreen  pines.  It  is  so  perfectly  adapted 

for  school  purposes  that  it  could  scarcely  be  improved  upon  if  built  to  order. 

The  dormitories  connected  with  the  institution  furnish  accommoda- 
tions for  80  students. 

Under  the  present  management  the  former  college  courses  have  been 
retained  and  enlarged  by  the  institution  of  a  scientific  course  which 
substitutes  modern  for  ancient  languages  and  the  addition  of  such  new 
features  as  manual  training.  For  those  who  are  not  candidates  for  a 
degree  there  is  a  practical  course  of  three  years  in  which  science  is 
emphasized,  and  a  commercial  course  of  two  years.  There  is  also  a 
preparatory  course  of  one  year. 

It  is  aimed  to  have  the  educational  methods  used  suited,  as  much  as 
possible,  to  the  needs  of  each  cadet,  and  to  this  end  it  is  expected  to 
have  the  attendance  limited  to  not  more  than  100  students,  probably 
less.  The  matriculation  so  far  has  been  fully  as  good  as,  or  better  than, 
it  was  during  the  corresponding  period  subsequent  to  the  original 
foundation.  Two  degrees  have  been  conferred  each  year  under  the  new 
management.  The  present  faculty  has  5  regular  professors,  4  special 
lecturers,  and  I  cadet  assistant. 

The  institute  has  been  one  of  the  leading  military  schools  of  the 
South.  Fifteen  States  were  at  times,  under  the  administration  of  the 


SOUTH  KENTUCKY  COLLEGE.  169 

elder  Colonel  Allen,  represented  in  its  matriculation,  and  its  graduates 
and  matriculates  are  to  be  found  in  every  Southern  and  in  many  of 
the  Central  and  Western  States.  Up  to  1878  its  total  number  of 
matriculates  had  been  3,049,  and  of  graduates  242.  Up  to  1893,  a 
period  of  forty-eight  years,  it  had  an  average  matriculation  of  about 
100  cadets,  making  its  total  enrollment  to  date  about  5,000.  Its  grad- 
uates now  number  about  400  and  have,  many  of  them,  taken  an  honor- 
able rank  in  other  professions  besides  that  of  arms.  Up  to  1878,  50  of 
them  were  known  to  have  become  lawyers,  21  physicians,  11  teachers, 
9  civil  engineers,  and  5  clergymen. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Perrin,  Battle,  and  Kniifen's  History  of  Kentucky. 
A  Short  History  of  Franklin  County,  by  C.  E.  James,  Frankfort,  1876. 
Biographical  Sketches  and  Information  of  Interest  to  Professors,  Alumni,  and  ex- 
Cadets  of  the  K.  M.  I.,  by  Maj.  R.  H.  Wildberger,  Frankfort,  1878. 

SOUTH  KENTUCKY  COLLEGE,  HOPKINSVILLE. 

This  institution  was  intended  primarily  for  the  education  of  women 
only,  and  was  conducted  as  an  exclusively  female  college  for  a  number 
of  years.  Its  original  charter  was  obtained*  from  the  State  legislature 
in  February,  1840,  and  places  it  under  the  management  of  nine  trustees, 
who  are  empowered — 

To  make  all  such  rules  and  ordinances  necessary  for  the  government  of  said  insti- 
tution as  shall  not  be  repugnant  to  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States 
and  of  this  State. 

The  design  of  its  founders  was  to  make  it  undenominational,  but 
positively  Christian,  and  the  Bible  was  from  its  beginning  given  a 
prominent  place  among  its  text-books 

Its  incorporators  and  those  mainly  instrumental  in  its  establishment 
were  John  M.  Barnes,  Henry  J.  Stites,  Benjamin  S.  Campbell,  John  B. 
Knight,  W.  F.  Bernhard,  Robert  L.  Waddell,  Jacob  Torian,  Isaac  H. 
Caldwell,  and  W.  A.  Edmonds.  These  trustees  were  identified  with 
the  Church  of  the  Disciples,  or  Christian  Church,  and  the  college  has 
since  remained  under  the  patronage  of  that  denomination. 

The  college  was  located  by  its  charter  in  Hopkins ville,  and  was  first 
opened  there  in  the  auturn  of  1849,  with  John  M.  Barnes  as  its  first 
president.  Mr.  Barnes  died  in  1851  and  was  succeeded  in  the  presi- 
dential chair  of  the  institution  by  Enos  Campbell,  under  whose  admin- 
istration it  became  necessary  to  erect  new  buildings  in  order  to 
accommodate  the  increased  patronage.  To  obtain  the  necessary  funds, 
agents  appointed  by  the  board  of  trustees  made  an  appeal  to  the 
church  and  the  friends  of  the  college  generally.  The  liberal  response 
given  to  these  efforts  resulted  in  the  raising  of  about  $30,000,  which 
was  expended  for  additional  grounds  and  a  new  building,  the  latter 
costing  $25,000.  The  grounds  constitute  the  present  campus  of  12  acres, 
situated  on  a  beautiful  elevation  overlooking  the  town  from  the  east 


170  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

and  splendidly  shaded  by  native  forest  trees.  The  new  building  was 
completed  in  1858. 

The  patronage  of  the  institution  continued  to  enlarge  in  its  new 
quarters,  and  its  prosperity  was  uninterrupted  until  the  spring  of  1862, 
when  its  work  was  suspended  for  several  months  by  the  military  occu- 
pation of  Hopkinsville  incident  to  the  civil  war,  its  buildings  being 
used  during  this  interval  by  the  Confederate  troops  as  a  hospital.  At 
this  time  President  Campbell  severed  his  connection  with  the  institution. 

The  college  was,  however,  reopened  in  September,  1862,  under  J.  W. 
Goss  as  president.  Mr.  Gross  was  succeeded  in  1870  by  T.  A.  Cren- 
shaw,  who  remained  at  the  head  of  the  institution  until  1876,  when 
E.  C.  Cave  became  president  and  remained  so  until  1881.  Under  the 
direction  of  these  executive  officers  the  college  steadily  regained  its 
former  prosperity,  its  attendance  being  such  as  to  make  it  more  than 
self- sustaining  and  to  allow  considerable  improvements  in  its  equip- 
ment. In  1876  the  faculty  was  composed  of  five  members  and  there  was 
an  enrollment  of  115  students,  which  seems  to  have  been  about  the 
average  matriculation  during  this  period  of  its  history. 

Its  students  at  this  time  represented  a  number  of  the  Southern  and 
Western  States,  and  its  list  of  graduates  was  large.  Many  of  these 
became  successful  teachers,  and  together  with  the  other  alumute  began 
to  make  the  institution  favorably  known,  particularly  throughout  the 
denomination  under  whose  auspices  it  was  being  conducted.  That 
body,  however,  especially  the  portion  of  it  located  in  southern  Kentucky, 
desired  a  college  where  its  sous  as  well  as  its  daughters  could  be  edu- 
cated, and  in  recognition  of  this  demand  the  trustees  of  South  Ken- 
tucky College,  at  a  meeting  held  on  November  24,  1879,  resolved  to 
take  steps  to  put  that  institution  on  a  different  and  broader  basis. 
The  aim  was  to  so  enlarge  the  faculty  and  so  extend  the  course  of  study 
and  raise  the  standard  of  scholarship  as  to  make  them  equivalent  to 
those  required  in  first  class  male  colleges,  and  then  make  the  institu- 
tion fully  coeducational.  Accordingly  the  necessary  amendment  to  the 
charter  was  secured  early  in  1881,  which  provides  "for  the  instruction  of 
the  students  therein  in  the  arts  and  sciences  and  in  all  necessary,  use- 
ful, and  ornamental  branches  of  a  thorough  and  liberal  education  such 
as  are  taught  in  the  best  colleges." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  trustees,  held  on  February  7,  1881,  it  was  deter- 
mined, in  order  to  make  the  course  of  instruction  as  broad  as  possible, 
not  only  to  continue  the  former  departments  of  music  and  art,  and  to 
conduct,  in  addition  to  a  preparatory  course  of  one  year,  a  classical 
course  of  four  years  and  a  scientific  course  of  three  years,  but  also  to 
add  a  normal  course  of  two  years,  a  commercial  course  of  one  year,  an 
agricultural  course  of  two  years,  a  ladies7  course  of  two  years,  and  an 
elementary  course  in  international,  constitutional,  and  commercial  law 
of  one  year.  Certificates  were  to  be  conferred  in  all  these  courses, 
except  the  classical,  scientific,  and  ladies'  courses,  in  which  the  usual 
degrees  of  A.  B.,  B.  S.,  and  M.  E.  L.  were  to  be  granted. 


SOUTH   KENTUCKY   COLLEGE.  171 

The  college  was  opened  under  its  amended  cnarter  as  a  coeducational 
institution  on  the  first  Monday  in  September,  1881.  President  Cave 
remained  at  its  head  under  the  new  order  of  things.  He  was  assisted 
in  the  work  of  instruction  by  a  faculty  which,  besides  additional  instruct- 
ors in  music,  art,  and  domestic  economy  was,  including  the  president, 
constituted  as  follows:  R.  G.  Cave,  M.  A.,  president  and  professor  of 
the  English  language  and  literature,  philosophy,  and  logic;  S.  K.  Crum- 
baugh,  M.  A.,  C.  E.,  LL.  B.,  professor  of  mathematics,  mechanics,  and 
astronomy;  M.  L.  Lipscomb,  M.  A.,  professor  of  Latin  and  Greek;  H.  T. 
Suddarth,  M.  A.,  professor  of  pedagogics,  commerce,  and  assistant  hi 
English;  G.  H.  Fracker,  M.  A.,  professor  of  natural  science  and  agricul- 
ture; R.  T.  Steinhagen,  professor  of  music,  modern  languages,  and  his- 
tory; J.  A.  Young,  M.  D.,  professor  of  zoology,  anatomy,  and  physiology; 
Hon.  J.  W.  McPherson,  professor  of  international,  constitutional,  and 
commercial  law. 

The  institution  had  at  the  time  acquired  the  foundation  of  a  good  refer- 
ence library  and  had  ample  scientific  apparatus  for  all  ordinary  uses.  In 
1881-82  there  were  121  students  enrolled,  69  of  whom  were  females, 
and,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  there  were  five  graduates  in  the  scientific 
course,  nine  in  the  ladies'  course,  three  in  the  normal  course,  and  four 
in  the  commercial  course.  In  the  next  year,  for  some  reason,  the  matric- 
ulation declined  to  89  altogether,  with  four  graduates  in  the  ladies' 
course  and  eight  in  the  commercial  course.  At  the  end  of  this  year 
President  Cave  resigned  and  was  succeeded  by  B.  C.  Deweese,  M.  A., 
who,  however,  seems  to  have  remained  in  the  presidential  office  only  a 
few  months,  being  succeeded  early  in  the  next  scholastic  year  by  S.  E. 
Crumbaugh,  M.  A.,  LL.  D.,  by  the  beginning  of  whose  administration 
the  courses  in  law  and  agriculture  had  been  dropped  and  the  scientific 
course  lengthened  to  four  years. 

Soon  after  the  assumption  of  his  office  by  President  Crumbaugh,  con- 
siderable improvements  were  made  in  the  college  property  in  various 
ways,  and  its  affairs  were  in  an  auspicious  condition  when,  on  February 
4, 1884,  its  prosperity  was  apparently  blighted  by  a  fire  which  destroyed 
its  main  building,  with  a  loss  of  several  thousand  dollars  above  the  sum 
for  which  the  structure  was  insured. 

The  exercises  of  the  institution  were  suspended  until  the  next  Sep- 
tember, but  its  trustees  met  the  next  day  after  the  fire  and  resolved  to 
rebuild  at  once.  Funds  were  raised,  through  the  energy  of  President 
Crumbaugh  and  other  friends  of  the  college,  and  a  new  building,  in  every 
way  handsomer  and  better  adapted  to  its  purposes  than  the  old  one, 
was  ready  for  occupancy  by  the  1st  of  the  following  July.  This  build- 
ing, which  is  now  in  use,  is  a  fine  brick  structure,  three  stories  in  height, 
with  a  front  108  feet  wide,  and  two  wings,  one  of  them  120  feet  and  the 
other  90  feet  deep.  It  afforded  considerably  larger  accommodations 
than  had  before  been  enjoyed. 

At  the  opening  of  the  next  year  the  faculty  of  the  institution  was 


172  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

enlarged  and  the  scope  of  its  instruction  considerably  widened,  a  mili- 
tary department  being  attached  to  it,  a  course  in  civil  engineering  and 
one  leading  to  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  letters  instituted,  and  the 
preparatory  course  extended  to  three  years.  Its  patronage  also  was 
soon  much  increased,  there  being  170  matriculates  in  1885-86,  so  that 
it  seemed  to  be  benefited  rather  than  injured  by  the  apparent  calamity 
which  had  befallen  it.  President  Crumbaugh  remained  in  charge  of 
the  institution  until  1887,  there  being  168  students  the  last  year  of  his 
administration.  He  remained  as  a  member  of  the  faculty  for  some  time 
after  his  resignation  as  president. 

His  successor  in  that  position  was  James  E.  Scobey,  M.  A.,  who  had 
been  vice-president  of  the  faculty  during  the  previous  administration. 
President  Scobey  remained  in  office  for  three  years,  during  which  the 
average  attendance  had  considerably  decreased,  but  the  number  of 
students  going  forward  to  a  degree  considerably  increased,  the  num- 
ber of  degrees  conferred  during  his  administration  being  quite  equal 
to  if  not  more  than  all  that  had  been  granted  before  since  1881.  In 
1890  President  Scobey  resigned  and  A.  O.  Kuykeudall,  M.  A.,  became 
his  successor  as  executive  head  of  the  institution,  a  position  which  he 
also  retained  for  three  years,  retiring  from  its  duties  in  1893,  when 
Prof.  J.  W.  Hardy  was  elected  to  the  position.  Professor  Kuykendall 
has  since  remained  one  of  the  prominent  professors  of  the  institution. 

Professor  Hardy  was  not  only  president,  but  financial  agent  as  well. 
An  appeal  being  made  at  the  opening  of  his  administration  to  secure  a 
better  equipment  and  an  endowment  for  the  college,  sufficient  funds 
were  soon  raised  to  erect,  at  a  cost  of  $10,000,  McCarty  Hall,  a  well- 
arranged  and  commodious  dormitory  with  accommodations  for  30  young- 
men,  besides  a  large  society  hall.  Within  the  next  two  years  some- 
thing over  $10,000  was  contributed  for  other  purposes,  $(>,000  of  which 
forms  the  beginning  of  the  first  endowment  of  the  institution,  for  it 
had  previously  depended  entirely  on  tuition  fees  for  its  support  and 
advancement.  During  President  Hardy's  administration  the  average 
annual  matriculation  was  about  160,  a  considerable  advance  over  that 
of  several  years  previous. 

In  1897,  upon  Professor  Hardy's  resignation,  Prof.  S.  S.  Woolwine,  for 
a  number  of  years  past  prominently  connected  with  various  educational 
enterprises  in  Tennessee,  was  elected  president  of  the  college.  The 
single  year  Professor  Woolwine  has  presided  over  the  institution  has 
witnessed  the  increase  of  its  matriculation  to  186,  the  largest  since 
1881,  and  probably  the  largest  in  the  history  of  the  institution.  These 
students  were  from  seven  different  States;  98  of  them  were  young  men 
and  88  young  women,  which  is  a  reversal  of  the  ratio  in  the  numbers 
of  the  two  sexes  during  most  years  since  coeducation  was  introduced. 
The  present  faculty  is  composed  of  ten  members,  one  of  whom — Prof. 
E.  T.  Steinhagen — has  been  a  successful  teacher  in  the  institution  for 
seventeen  years  or  more. 


BETHEL    COLLEGE.  173 

The  average  number  of  graduates  from  the  college  iu  recent  years 
has  been  about  8,  who  have  beeu  about  equally  distributed  among  the 
three  principal  courses  leading  to  the  degrees  of  bachelor  of  arts,  bach- 
elor of  science,  and  bachelor  of  letters.  A  number  of  the  graduates 
of  the  institution  have  attained  success  in  the  different  learned  pro- 
fessions, especially  in  that  of  teaching. 

The  present  course  is  divided  into  the  departments  of  ancient  lan- 
guages, mathematics,  science,  mental  and  moral  philosophy,  English, 
modern  languages,  normal  instruction,  Bible  instruction,  commercial 
instruction,  and  elocution  and  oratory.  Jt  is  arranged  in  the  three 
courses  indicated  above,  the  basis  of  each  of  which,  respectively,  is 
ancient  languages,  modern  languages,  and  English.  The  first  two 
extend  through  four  years  each  and  the  last  three  years.  Besides  these, 
there  is  a  teachers'  course  of  two  years,  a  commercial  course  of  one  year, 
and  excellent  opportunities  are  offered  in  music  and  art.  Certificates 
are  granted  in  these  departments.  There  is  also  a  preparatory  course 
of  one  year.  The  degree  of  M,  A.  is  conferred  upon  those  who  have 
completed  the  classical  course  and  have  spent  one  year  in  post-graduate 
work  at  the  college  or  two  years  in  literary  work  elsewhere. 

South  Kentucky  College  has  done  a  valuable  educational  work  for 
many  years  practically  without  endowment.  If  its  friends  will  only 
rally  around  it  and  furnish  it  the  means  for  which  it  is  now  appealing, 
its  permanency  will  be  assured  and  its  usefulness  greatly  enlarged  for 
the  future. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

This  sketch  is  based  mainly  on  a  sketch  of  the  college  contained  in  the  catalogue 
of  1881-82,  the  facts  of  which  have  heen  confirmed  and  enlarged  by  reference  to 
other  catalogues,  to  reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education,  and  to  Henderson's 
Centennial  Exhibits,  as  well  as  by  other  facts  furnished  by  President  Darby  and  Dr. 
James  A.  Young,  of  Hopkiusville.  Use  has  also  been  made  of  a  sketch  in  A  History 
of  Christian  County,  by  W.  H.  Perrin,  Chicago,  1882. 

BETHEL  COLLEGE,  RUSSELLVILLE. 

The  want  of  an  institution  to  supply  the  educational  needs  of  the 
church  in  the  southern  and  western  portions  of  the  State  had  long  been 
felt  by  the  Baptists  of  Kentucky,  and  the  question  of  its  establishment 
had  been  somewhat  discussed,  especially  at  the  general  association 
held  in  October,  1848.  The  preliminary  steps  for  the  actual  organiza- 
tion of  such  an  institution  were,  however,  taken  by  Bethel  Association 
at  its  meeting  in  Hopkinsville,  Ky.,  in  September,  1849,  when  Rev. 
Samuel  Baker,  D.  D.,  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  education 
appointed  at  the  previous  session  of  that  body,  reported  in  favor  of 
establishing,  "at  some  eligible  point  within  the  bounds  of  the  associa- 
tion and  under  its  name,  an  academic  institution,  something  inferior  to 
a  college  or  university  and  superior  to  the  ordinary  common  and  pri- 
mary schools,"  l  the  aim  of  the  contemplated  school  at  that  time  being 


1  Russellville  Ledger  for  April  25,  1896. 


174  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

to  prepare  students  for  the  colleges  of  the  church  and  to  furnish  the 
elements  of  a  good  English  education  to  others  who  had  not  the  desire 
or  opportunity  to  pursue  an  extended  course  of  study. 

In  response  to  this  report,  a  resolution  was  adopted  by  the  associa- 
tion that  the  churches  should  be  requested  to  send  delegates  to  a  meet- 
ing appointed  to  be  held  at  Keysburg,  Ky.,  on  November  14,  1849,  in 
order  that  arrangements  might  be  made  to  locate  the  school  and  to 
raise  funds  for  its  establishment.  A  committee  to  secure  a  charter 
for  the  proposed  school  and  to  look  after  other  matters  pertaining  to 
its  organization  was  also  appointed.  Rev.  John  P.  Campbell,  one  of 
the  most  zealous  promoters  of  the  enterprise,  was  chairman  of  this 
committee,  and  was  ably  assisted  in  the  advocacy  of  the  undertaking 
by  Eev.  R.  Anderson,  Rev.  Robert  Williams,  Rev.  R.  A.  Nixon,  and 
Rev.  J.  M.  Pendleton,  who,  with  him,  maybe  mentioned  as  among  those 
mainly  instrumental  in  pushing  forward  the  educational  movement. 
This  committee,  through  its  financial  agent,  Rev.  W.  I.  Morton,  raised 
$3,500  in  subscriptions  for  the  proposed  school  by  the  next  meeting  of 
the  association  at  Russell ville,1  Ky.,  in  1850,  when  that  body  decided  to 
locate  the  institution  in  Russellville,  and  appointed  its  first  board  of 
trustees,  with  Judge  E.  M.  Ewing  as  chairman  and  Rev.  J.  M.  Pendleton 
as  secretary. 

The  first  official  act  of  this  board,  and  one  fraught  with  importance 
to  the  school,  was  the  appointment  of  N.  Long  as  its  financial  agent, 
thus  early  associating  with  the  enterprise  a  man  who  became  one  of  its 
firmest  friends  and  strongest  supporters j  one  who  was  ever  ready  to 
promote  its  welfare  without  emolument  to  himself,  which  he  always 
refused.  His  energetic  efforts  soon  led  to  the  palpable  result  of  secur- 
ing, chiefly  in  Logan  County,  about  $8,000  in  addition  to  the  amount 
already  subscribed,  and  in  March,  1851,  he  purchased  for  $3,300,  as  the 
seat  of  the  institution,  40  acres  of  land  adjoining  Russellville,  on  which, 
by  the  authority  of  the  board  of  trustees,  in  October,  1851,  he  con- 
tracted for  the  erection  of  the  present  main  building  of  Bethel  College, 
which  was  to  cost  when  complete  about  $15,000..  This  building  was 
erected,  principally  in  1852,  on  a  substantial  and  commodious  plan, 
under  Mr.  Long's  personal  supervision,  but  the  funds  already  raised 
were  only  sufficient,  besides  paying  for  the  grounds,  to  put  it  under 
roof,  at  a  cost  of  about  $10,000,  and  not  to  complete  or  furnish  it. 

So  further  help  was  needed  to  push  the  enterprise  to  a  success.  This 
help  was  found  in  the  person  of  Rev.  B.  T.  Blewett,  A.  M.,2  who,  in  June, 
1853,  was  elected  as  the  first  principal  of  the  school  and  also  as  agent 
to  collect  funds  and  superintend  the  completion  of  the  building.  He 
came  from  Georgetown  College,  then  the  educational  center  of  the 
Baptist  Church  in  Kentucky,  where  he  had  been  principal  of  the  pre- 
paratory department  for  six  years,  since  taking  his  degree  in  1847.  He 

1  Hopkinsville  and  Keysburg  were  also  competitors  for  the  location. 

2  Most  accounts  of  the  history  of  the  college  spell  this  name  Blewitt  but  Blewett 
is  undoubtedly  the  correct  spelling. 


BETHEL    COLLEGE.  175 

was  a  worthy  coadjutor  of  Mr.  Long,  both  iii  self-sacrificing  eiforts  and 
energy  in  bebalf  of  the  school  and  these  two  men  maybe  preeminently 
called  the  founders  of  Bethel  High  School,  out  of  which  subsequently 
grew  Bethel  College. 

BETHEL   HIGH   SCHOOL. 

Mr.  Blewett  at  once  gave  his  personal  note  for  $6,000  to  insure  the 
early  completion  of  the  building  erected  by  Mr.  Long  and  took  the 
field,  already  thought  to  be  quite  fully  canvassed  for  that  purpose  and 
in  which  there  was  considerable  competition  from  other  church  educa- 
tional enterprises,  to  raise  the  needed  amount.  By  twelve  months' 
work,  laboring  almost  day  and  night,  without  allowing  his  ardor  to  be 
dampened  or  his  energy  checked  by  seemingly  adverse  circumstances, 
Mr.  Blewett  succeeded  in  having  the  building  finished  and  furnished, 
at  a  cost  of  $8,000,  being  able  by  advancing  much  of  this  amount  out 
of  his  own  means,  to  have  this  accomplished  by  January  1,  1854. 

As  a  result  of  these  efforts,  Bethel  High  School  was  first  opened  on 
January  3,  1854,  Mr.  Blewett,  with  one  assistant  teacher,  constituting 
its  first  faculty.  The  first  assistant  teacher  was  George  L.  Hayes.  A 
charter  was  secured  for  the  school  on  March  9, 1854,  and  during  its  first 
session  25  students  were  in  attendance.  The -salary  of  the  assistant, 
however,  absorbed  all  the  fees  paid  by  these,  and  so  the  principal 
received  nothing  for  his  services,  as  indeed  seems  to  have  been  the  case 
for  eighteen  mouths  after  he  accepted  the  position. 

Moreover,  his  own  funds  were  now  exhausted,  and  so  affairs  looked 
quite  gloomy  in  the  summer  of  1854;  but  not  despairing,  he  again  took 
the  field  to  solicit  funds  and  students,  and  although  he  did  not  secure 
much  of  the  former,  the  attendance  was  considerably  increased  the 
second  term.  The  debt,  however,  pressed  heavily  upon  the  school,  and 
Mr.  Blewett  was  severely  taxed  for  a  time  to  keep  it  going.  Meanwhile, 
its  excellent  corps  of  teachers,  which  was  maintained  notwithstanding 
the  desperate  condition  of  its  affairs,  was  adding  to  its  reputation  and 
attracting  a  well-paying  patronage,  which  soon  relieved  its  pressing 
financial  embarrassment.  By  September,  1855,  it  had  three  '  teachers 
besides  the  principal  and  an  enrollment  of  125  students,  and  its  general 
prosperity  began  to  attract  a  wider  notice. 

The  favorable  consideration  it  was  receiving  at  the  hands  of  the 
public  caused  its  friends  to  become  more  ambitious  in  their  aims,  and 
accordingly,  under  the  instructions  of  Bethel  Association,  its  trustees 
applied  to  the  State  legislature  for  a  charter  converting  it  into  a  col- 
lege. This  instrument,  which  was  secured  on  March  6,  1856,  changed 
the  name  of  the  institution  to  Bethel  College,  and  conferred  upon  it 
powers  sufficient  not  only  for  the  operation  of  a  college,  but  of  a  uni- 
versity as  well,  if  it  should  ever  aspire  higher.  By  the  terms  of  its 

1  These  teachers  were  Fred  B.  Downs,  A.  Maasberg,  Ph.  D.,  and  H.  H.  Skinner.  A 
preparatory  class  was  also  in  charge  of  Colby  A.  Smith,  A.  B. 


176  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

charter  the  control  of  the  institution  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  -'The 
Green  Kiver  Baptist  Educational  Society,7'  where  it  remained  for  many 
years. 

BETHEL    COLLEGE. 

The  new  college  was  opened  in  the  autumn  of  1856  and  had,  as  its 
first  faculty,  in  addition  to  President  Blewett,  Augustus  Maasberg, 
Ph.  D.,  professor  of  languages;  0.  D.  Lawrence,  professor  of  math- 
ematics, and  David  Hardy,  jr.,  principal  of  the  preparatory  department. 
In  1857  II.  H.  Lummis  was  added  as  professor  of  chemistry. 

One  hundred  and  fifty  students  were  enrolled  the  first  year,  but  the 
condition  of  the  institution  at  the  time  is  well  shown  by  the  following 
quotation,  in  which  it  is  said  Mr.  Blewett  had  been  made  president  of 
aa  college  without  endowment,  library,  apparatus,  or  any  other  appli- 
ance, except  a  good  building,  a  good  number  of  students,  and  a  good 
working  faculty."1  So  the  prospects  under  the  new  order  of  things 
were  not  very  bright  and  President  Blewett  had  almost,  if  not  quite, 
as  great  a  struggle  to  maintain  the  college  as  the  high  school  during 
its  first  years,  in  both  of  which  attempts  it  is  said  he  would  have  sev- 
eral times  given  up  in  despair  had  it  not  been  for  the  hopefulness  and 
encouragement  of  his  wife,  who  inspired  him  to  renewed  exertions. 

The  reputation  of  the  school  had  aroused  a  favorable  public  senti- 
ment in  its  behalf,  but  no  one  realized  more  fully  than  President 
Blewett  that  tuition  fees  alone  could  not  be  depended  upon  to  sustain 
an  efficient  faculty  and  equip  the  institution  with  all  the  educational 
apparatus  needed  for  successful  work.  He  accordingly  again  made  an 
appeal  to  the  church  in  behalf  of  an  endowment  for  the  college,  in 
which  action  he  was  efficiently  supported  by  its  trustees,  that  body 
resolving,  in  1856,  to  endeavor  to  secure  $15,000,  and,  in  1857,  raising 
that  amount  to  $30,000. 

The  beginning  of  the  good  things  to  come  occurred  in  this  latter 
year,  when  H.  Q.  Ewing,  then  president  of  the  board  of  trustees,  gave 
to  the  institution  an  unconditional  donation  of  $10,000  in  cash  and  an 
additional  one  of  $10,000  in  real  estate,  conditioned  upon  $30,000  more 
being  added  to  its  fund  from  other  sources.  In  the  following  year  his 
father,  Judge  E.  M.  Ewihg,  the  first  president  of  the  trustees  of  Bethel 
High  School,  contributed,  under  like  conditions,  $3,000  in  money  and  80 
acres  of  valuable  land,2  situated  near  Chicago,  111.  President  Blewett 
succeeded  in  securing  about  $3,000  from  other  sources,  so  that  by  July 
4, 1859,  the  larger  amount  at  which  the  trustees  had  aimed  was  more 
than  obtained.  Judge  Ewing  and  his  son  also,  about  this  time, 
donated  a  part  of  the  library  of  Hon.  Presley  Ewing,  containing  about 
2,000  volumes,  which  formed  the  foundation  of  the  present  library  of 
the  institution.  The  proceeds  of  the  gifts  of  the  Ewings,  by  resolution 

1  Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education,  vol.  5,  p.  431. 

2  This  land  was  considered  to  be  worth  $4,000  when  it  was  given,  but  half  of  it  was 
sold  i»  1891  for  $44,000. 


BETHEL    COLLEGE.  177 

of  the  board  of  trustees,  adopted  on  June  14,  1859,  were  set  apart  to 
the  chair  of  mental  and  moral  philosophy,  which  is  named  in  their 
honor.  The  funds  secured  by  that  time  had  placed  the  college  on  a 
more  substantial  basis,  and  one  of  its  special  aims  began  to  be  more 
definitely  realized.  One  of  its  chief  objects  originally  had  been  to 
educate  more  fully  young  men  preparing  for  the  Baptist  ministry,  and 
since  its  organization  from  10  to  20  of  these  students  had  been  in  its 
classes,  but  in  1860,  to  meet  the  needs  of  these  more  fully,  a  professor- 
ship of  biblical  and  pastoral  theology  was  established.  This  depart- 
ment was  soon  suspended  by  the  civil  war,  but  was  revived  agaiu,  a 
special  charter  being  secured  for  it  on  January  22, 1868,  and  was  main- 
tained until  1877,  when  the  location  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Theo- 
logical Seminary  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  made  its  maintenance  no  longer 
necessary  or  advisable.  The  occupant  of  this  chair  during  the  period 
of  its  existence  was  Eev.  W.  W.  Gardner,  D.  D.,  who  was  a  valuable 
laborer  in  behalf  of  the  college  during  its  early  struggles. 

Under  President  Blewett's  successful  management  the  college,  with 
its  full  and  able  faculty,  continued  eminently  prosperous  until  May  1861, 
when,  owing  to  the  excitement  due  to  the  opening  of  the  civil  war,  it  was 
closed  and  remained  so  for  something  over  two  years,  during  which  time 
its  buildings  were  used  for  army  hospital  purposes  for  several  months 
by  the  Confederate  troops.  At  the  time  of  its  suspension  there  were  150 
students  in  attendance,  and  we  are  informed l  that  its  cash  endowment 
was  then  $40,000,  while  its  property  was  valued  at  more  than  twice  that 
amount. 

President  Blewett  resigned  his  office  in  the  summer  of  1861.  He  subse- 
quently taught  successfully  at  other  places  in  Kentucky  and  in  Mis- 
souri, but  was  not  again  connected  with  the  management  of  Bethel  Col- 
lege. His  services  to  that  institution  in  its  early  days  can  hardly  be 
overestimated.  He,  in  connection  with  Mr.  Long,  mainly  secured  its 
funds  and  besides  he  had  all  the  labor  of  its  early  organization.  Spen- 
cer 2well  describes  his  efforts  in  saying  that— 

He  raised  the  money,  taught  his  regular  classes,  exercised  discipline,  Drought  his 
students  into  the  college,  planted  the  ornamental  trees  on  the  lawn  with  his  own 
hands,  and  directed  the  nriimtite  of  a  thousand  nameless  transactions  necessary  to 
the  conduct  of  a  growing  institution  of  learning. 

The  college  had  sent  out  its  first  graduating  class  of  two  members  in 
1857,  one  of  whom  was  Kev.  C.  P.  Shields,  A.  M.,  who  was,  until  recently, 
for  a  number  of  years,  its  professor  of  Latin  and  Greek.  The  class  of 
1858  had  12  members,  and  there  were  altogether  22  alumni  during  the 
antebellum  period  of  the  institution's  history,  among  whom,  besides 
Professor  Shields,  were  James  H.  Fuqua,  A.  M.,  and  Leslie  Waggener, 
A.  M.,  LL.  D.,  since  prominently  connected  with  the  corps  of  instruc- 
tion and  administration  of  their  alma  mater  and  other  institutions. 

1  History  of  the  Baptists  of  Kentucky,  p.  727.  -  Hid,  p.  739. 

2127— No.  25 12 


178  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION   IN    KENTUCKY. 

During  the  suspension  of  the  college  its  old  friend  Mr.  Long  con- 
tinued bis  valuable  services  to  it  by  carefully  husbanding  its  financial 
resources,  so  that  it  was  more  fortunate  than  most  other  institutions 
similarly  situated  in  coming  out  of  the  civil  war  not  only  with  its  funds 
unimpaired,  but  even  increased,  as  these  in  1865  had  become  over 
$50,000. 

In  September,  1863,  the  college  was  reopened  under  Rev.  George 
Hunt  as  president.  Mr.  Hunt  successfully  accomplished  the  difficult 
undertaking  of  reorganizing  the  institution  under  very  uupropitious 
circumstances  and  of  arousing  something  of  the  old-time  interest  in  its 
behalf.  He  left  it  on  a  good  working  basis  when  he  resigned  in  1864, 
and  was  succeeded  by  J.  W.  Rust,  A.  M. 

Professor  Rust  is  note!  in  educational  matters,  particularly  for  his 
able  management  of  the  affairs  of  Bethel  Female  College,  at  Hopkins- 
ville,  Ky.,  for  many  years,  both  before  and  after  this  time,  but  his 
administration  of  Bethel  College,  lasting  about  three  and  a  half  years, 
was  also  a  prosperous  one  in  the  history  of  that  institution,  which,  soon 
after  the  beginning  of  his  term  of  office,  began  to  almost  equal  its  best 
days  prior  to  the  civil  war.  Failing  health,  however,  compelled  Presi- 
dent Rust  to  resign  on  February  1,  1868.  He  was  a  man  of  practical 
judgment  and  of  tireless  energy,  and  did  much  to  increase  the  attend- 
ance and  reputation  of  the  college. 

Upon  Professor  Rust's  resignation  Noah  K.  Davis,  LL.D.,  the  author 
of  works  in  mental  and  moral  philosophy  which  evidence  profound 
thought  and  scholarship,  was  elected  to  the  presidency,  a  position 
which  he  held  for  about  five  years,  during  which  several  progressive 
events  in  the  history  of  the  college  happened.  In  the  fall  of  1868  its 
curriculum  was  arranged  substantially  as  at  present  in  scope  and  in 
plan.  This  plan,  generally  known  throughout  the  South  as  the  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia  plan,  consisted  in  the  arrangement  of  the  course  of 
study  into  independent  schools,  which  might  be  pursued  by  anyone 
prepared  to  profit  by  them,  there  being  no  regular  division  of  the  stu- 
dents into  college  classes  nor  any  fixed  time  for  the  completion  of  the 
curriculum,  students  being  graduated  when  they  completed  the  requi- 
site number  of  schools  for  the  degree  which  they  sought.  The  number 
of  schools1  established  at  this  time  was  eight,  of  which  six  had  to  be 
completed  for  the  student  to  obtain  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts. 
The  high  standard  of  scholarship  required  by  this  course  has  since 
been  consistently  maintained  by  the  institution.  - 

Substantial  additions  were  also  made  to  the  endowment  and  equip- 
ment during  this  period.  In  1870  the  chair  of  English  was  endowed 
by  N.  Long,  the  early  benefactor  of  the  college,  and  in  the  same  year 
the  chair  of  natural  sciences  was  endowed  by  the  Norton  brothers, 


1  These  schools  were  Latin,  Greek,  English,  natural  science,  philosophy,  mathe- 
matics, the  Bible,  and  theology.  The  first  six  were  required  for  the  degree  of  A.  Bv 
the  only  one  given  at  the  time. 


BETHEL    COLLEGE.  179 

G.  W.  Norton  and  W.  F.  Norton,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  Ecstein  Nor- 
ton, of  New  York  City.  These  chairs  have  been  named  after  the 
donors.  In  1872  a  president's  house  was  erected,  at  a  cost  of  $7,000, 
the  means  for  which  were  largely  secured  through  Mr.  Long,  and  in 
this  year  a  fund  of  $8,000,  given  in  1870  to  aid  students  for  the  min- 
istry, particularly,  by  Mr.  James  Enlow,  of  Christian  County,  Ky., 
first  became  available.  The  funds  of  the  institution  were  then  $85,000 
and  its  property  at  least  that  much  more,  while  there  were  110  students 
in  the  college  classes  proper. 

In  1873  President  Davis  resigned  to  accept  the  position  he  still  holds, 
the  chair  of  moral  philosophy  in  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  the 
executive  affairs  of  the  college  were  intrusted  to  Prof.  Leslie  Wag- 
geuer,  an  alumnus  of  the  college  in  the  class  of  1860  and  connected  with 
its  faculty  since  1866,  having  in  1870  become  its  professor  of  English 
language  and  literature,  a  department  of  education  to  which  he  was 
one  of  the  first  teachers  of  the  country  to  devote  his  attention  as  a 
specialty.  Professor  Waggoner  conducted  the  affairs  of  the  institution 
with  usefulness  and  acceptability,  as  chairman  of  the  faculty,  until  1877 
when  he  was  regularly  elected  president,  a  position  held  by  him  until 
1883. 

Among  the  changes  and  improvements  occurring  during  his  term  of 
office  may  be  mentioned  the  inauguration  of  the  bachelor  of  science 
course  in  1875,  the  degree  being  conferred  on  candidates  who  had  com- 
pleted successfully  the  schools  of  English,  philosophy,  mathematics, 
and  natural  science;  the  usual  time  required  to  obtain  this  degree  seems 
to  have  been  at  first  three  years,  but  the  the  course  was  soon  strength- 
ened so  as  to  require  four  years  as  required  in  the  bachelor  of  arts 
course.  A  school  of  modern  languages  was  added  to  the  previous 
curriculum,  and  has  since  been  made  an  important  feature  of  the  sci- 
entific course. 

In  1876-77  N.  Long  Hall,  designed  to  provide  a  college  home  and 
board  at  reasonable  rates  for  deserving  students  who  chose  to  avail 
themselves  of  its  advantages,  was  erected,  at  a  cost  of  $20,000,  mainly 
through  the  efforts  of  him  in  whose  honor  it  is  named  and  largely  from 
funds  contributed  by  him.  It  will  furnish  accommodations  for  about 
100  students  and  has  been  found  a  valuable  adjunct  to  the  work  of  the 
college.  This  was  the  last  of  Mr.  Long's  important  personalbenefac- 
tions  to  the  institution,  but  he  still  continued  to  give  to  it  valuable 
services,  remaining  as  president  of  its  board  of  trustees  until  his  death 
in  1887,  a  position  held  by  him  since  1870,  while  he  had  been  a  member 
of  that  body  for  thirty  years.  Besides  devoting  largely  of  his  time 
and  means  to  Bethel  College  he  had  contributed  liberally  to  George- 
town College,  Kentucky;  Richmond  College,  Virginia,  and  the  Baptist 
Theological  Seminary,  in  Louisville,  Ky. 

In  the  last  year  of  President  Waggener's  administration  the  college 
gymnasium,  which  had  been  erected  in  connection  with  N.  Long  Hall, 


180  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

was  equipped  with  the  latest  appliances  for  physical  exercise,  through 
the  liberality  of  Capt.  J.  B.  Briggs,  of  Eussellville.  President  Wag- 
gen  er  resigned  in  June,  1883,  to  accept  the  chair  of  English  literature 
in  the  University  of  Texas,  where  he  became  chairman  of  the  faculty, 
a  position  held  by  him  until  1895,  when  he  was  elected  president.  He 
died  in  the  discharge  of  its  duties  in  1896. 

The  other  members  of  the  faculty  of  Bethel  at  the  time  of  the  resig- 
nation of  President  Waggener  were  James  H.  Fuqua,  A.  M.,  professor 
of  ancient  languages;  John  P.  Fruit,  A.  M.,  professor  of  English  and 
modern  languages;  E.  E.Binford,  A.M., professor  of  mathematics;  Eev. 
W.'S.  Eylaud,  D.  D.,  professor  of  natural  science,  and  J.  C.  Vick,  A.  B., 
principal  of  the  preparatory  department.  Professor  Fuqua  at  that 
time  assumed  the  duties  of  the  chair  of  philosophy  and  became  chair- 
man of  the  faculty.  The  executive  affairs  of  the  institution  were  man- 
aged by  him  in  this  capacity  for  the  next  four  years,  during  which  the 
patronage  of  the  college  was  considerably  increased.  In  1887  Pro- 
fessor Fuqua  asked  to  be  relieved  of  executive  duties  and  Eev.  W.  S. 
Eyland,  D.  1).,  became  his  successor  as  chairman  of  the  faculty.  Pro- 
fessor Fuqua  still  retained  his  connection  with  the  institution  and 
became  at  that  time  its  professor  of  mathematics. 

Dr.  Eyland,  besides  having  been  a  member  of  the  college  faculty 
since  1880,  had  since  his  graduation  at  Eichmond  College,  Virginia,  and 
Eochester  Theological  Seminary,  New  York,  taught  in  several  other 
institutions  in  Mississippi  and  Kentucky,  and  had  been  president  of 
the  Baptist  Female  College  at  Lexington,  Ky.,  from  1877  to  1880. 
His  training  and  temperament  were  such  as  to  make  him  an  excellent 
presiding  officer  for  Bethel.  After  being  chairman  of  the  faculty  for 
two  years,  he  was,  in  1889,  regularly  elected  president,  and  continued 
to  hold  the  office  until  June,  1898,  thus  completing  a  longer  term  of 
service  than  any  other  incumbent  of  the  position. 

The  history  of  the  institution  during  his  administration  Avas  one  of 
uniform  growth  and  expansion  in  almost  all  directions.  In  1887-88 
there  were  127  students  in  the  college,  then  a  considerably  larger  num- 
ber than  usual.  These  increased  in  1890-91  to  180,  in  1892-93  to  207, 
and  in  1894-95  to  213,  the  largest  number  yet  enrolled,  the  matricu- 
lation during  this  period  more  than  once  representing  as  many  as  eight 
of  the  Southern  and  Western  States.  The  size  of  the  graduating  classes 
increased  in  a  corresponding  ratio.  In  1891  there  were  8  graduates; 
in  1893,  11;  in  1896,  22. 

In  1890  a  regular  professorship  of  modern  languages  was  established 
and  improvements,  amounting  to  several  thousand  dollars,  made  upon 
the  college  property.  In  this  year,  also,  in  order  to  cure  a  legal  defect 
in  the  charter,  and  also  because  the  organization  of  the  educational 
society,  in  whose  charge  the  institution  had  originally  been  placed,  had 
been  allowed  to  become  dissolved  through  neglect,  an  amendment  to 
the  charter  was  secured,  making  the  board  of  trustees  self-perpetuat- 


BETHEL    COLLEGE.  181 

ing,  but  requiring  that  four-fifths  of  them  must  be  members  in  good 
standing  of  some  Baptist  church. 

In  1892  a  school  of  the  Bible,  for  practical  instruction  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, was  added  to  the  curriculum,  and  a  valuable  and  handsome 
addition  was  made  to  the  equipment  and  educational  facilities  of  the 
institution  by  the  gift,  for  library  purposes,  from  the  heirs  of  N.  Long 
and  G.  W.  Norton,  of  the  Southern  Bank  building,  the  original  cost  of 
which  was  $30,000,  on  condition  that  a  fund  of  $-\000  for  increasing 
the  library  should  be  raised,  a  condition  speedily  complied  with,  as 
about  half  the  amount  needed  was  subscribed  at  the  commencement  of 
that  year,  when  the  conditional  donation  of  the  building  was  announced. 
The  donation  of  this  building,  which  is  conveniently  located  and  well 
suited  to  its  new  purposes,  was  largely  due  to  the  efforts  and  influence 
of  Capt.  J.  B.  Briggs,  of  Eussellville,  who  thus  became  for  a  second 
time  a  contributor  to  the  means  of  the  institution.  Among  other 
important  donors  to  the  library  and  its  funds  have  been  Mrs.  Olive  C. 
Walton,  of  Allensville,  Ky.:  Miss  Mary  Newton,  of  Daviess  County, 
Ky.,  and  Ecsteiu  Norton,  of  New  York  City. 

In  189G  the  course  of  instruction  was  again  enlarged  and  the  faculty 
increased  by  the  creation  of  a  new  school  of  history  and  the  election  of 
a  professor  of  history.  In  this  year  also  the  facilities  in  the  scientific 
department  were  much  improved  by  the  enlargement  of  the  chemical 
laboratory  and  the  purchase  of  new  apparatus,  a  fund  for  laboratory 
purposes  being  at  that  time  contributed  by  the  Norton  Brothers,  the 
former  benefactors  of  the  college.  In  1897,  while  the  former  scope  of 
instruction  was  maintained,  the  schools  of  instruction  being  Latin, 
Greek,  mathematics,  natural  science,  English,  philosophy,  modern  lan- 
guages, history,  and  the  Bible,  the  course  of  study  was  remodeled  in 
such  a  way  as  to  divide  the  students,  according  to  progress,  into  the 
usual  college  classes  and  a  new  bachelor  of  letters  course  was  instituted, 
in  which  English  and  modern  languages  take  the  place  of  Greek  in 
the  classical  course,  the  former  scientific  course,  in  which  the  natural 
sciences  and  modern  languages  predominate,  also  being  retained,  thus 
making  three  regular  degree  courses,  leading  respectively  to  the  degrees 
of  bachelor  of  letters,  bachelor  of  arts,  and  bachelor  of  science.1  At  the 
same  time2  the  powers  of  the  president  of  the  college,  in  regard  to  the 
personnel  of  the  faculty  and  the  scholastic  arid  disciplinary  affairs  of  the 
institution  generally,  were  much  enlarged  over  what  they  had  formerly 
been. 

During  President  Kyland's  administration  the  endowment  of  the 
institution  was  somewhat  expanded.  Besides  the  gifts  mentioned 
above  for  special  purposes,  in  1891  one-half  of  the  real  estate  near 


LThe  degree  of  master  is  conferred  in  each  of  these  courses  upon  an  additional 
year's  study. 

2  At  this  time  also  all  honorary  degrees  were  abolished  and  all  honorary  distinctions, 
except  such  as  are  usual  in  connection  with  the  commencement  exercises. 


182  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN    KENTUCKY. 

Chicago,  given  by  Judge  Ewing  in  1858,  was  sold  for  $44,000,  the 
remainder  being  held  at  a  greatly  increased  value,  while,  in  1895, 
Dr.  John  H.  Spencer,  the  author  and  a  former  student  of  the  college, 
donated  $6,000  to  its  funds,  and  in  recent  years  Mr.  William  Price,  of 
Logan  County,  Ky.,  has  given  $3,500  to  be  used  to  aid  poor  students 
who  are  candidates  for  the  ministry  in  the  Baptist  Church.  The  income 
from  the  Enlow  fund,  now  amounting  to  about  88,500,  and  originally 
intended  as  part  of  an  endowment  for  the  theological  department,  has 
been  used  for  the  same  purpose  since  that  department  was  discontinued. 
The  real  estate  and  invested  funds  of  the  institution  have  now  accumu- 
lated to  about  $240,000.  In  addition  to  the  improvements  and  growth, 
which  have  been  noted,  Dr.  Rylaud's  services  to  the  college  were  also 
valuable  in  upholding  and  raising  the  general  tone  and  esprit  de  corps 
of  the  institution. 

Upon  President  Ryland's  resignation,  in  June,  1898,  Eev.  E.  S.  Alder- 
man, D.  D.,  was  elected  president.  Dr.  Alderman  is  a  graduate  of 
Wake  Forest  College,  North  Carolina  (1883),  and  of  the  full  course  in 
the  Southern  Baptist  Theological  Seminary,  Louisville,  Ky.  (1886), 
having,  since  the  latter  date,  been  the  pastor  of  several  churches  in 
North  Carolina  and  Kentucky.  He  should  be  well  fitted  to  uphold  the 
well-established  reputation  of  Bethel. 

The  matriculation  of  the  college  during  thie  past  two  years  has, 
owing  to  various  circumstances,  been  considerably  decreased,  but  there 
is  no  reason  why,  in  the  near  future,  it  should  not  be  larger  than  ever 
before.  Under  the  new  order  of  administration,  established  in  1897, 
several  of  the  former  members  of  the  faculty  resigned  and  new  pro- 
fessors, mainly  young  men,  were  elected  in  their  places.  Upon  the 
election  of  President  Alderman  one  of  these,  Prof.  James  H.  Fuqua, 
for  four  years  the  chairman  of  the  faculty  and  otherwise  long  and 
favorably  known  in  connection  with  the  history  of  the  institution, 
resumed  his  connection  with  it.  Under  the  present  arrangement  the 
academic,  or  preparatory,  department  has  been  separated  from  the 
college  proper,  while  the  duties  of  the  chair  of  modern  languages  and 
mathematics  have  been  divided,  and  those  of  the  chair  of  history  dis- 
tributed among  the  other  professors.  The  college  faculty,  as  now  con- 
sti  tuted,  is  as  follows:  Rev.  Edward  Sinclair  Alderman,  D.  D.,  president, 
and  Ewing  professor  of  philosophy;  Sidney  Ernest  Bradshaw,  A.  B., 
"N".  Long  professor  of  English;  William  Edward  Farrar,  A.B.,  professor  of 
Latin  and  Greek ;  Edgar  Ezekiel  De  Cou,  M.  S.,  professor  of  mathematics 
and  German;  William  B.  Wilson,  M.  S.,  Norton  professor  of  natural 
sciences;  James  Henry  Fuqua,  Sr.,  A.  M.,  professor  of  mathematics 
and  French. 

One  hundred  and  ninely-eight  degrees,  for  work  done  in  regular 
courses,  have  been  granted  by  Bethel  College  since  its  resumption  in 
1863.  These,  with  the  22  degrees  conferred  before  the  civil  war,  make 
the  total  number  to  1898,  inclusive,  220,  of  which  39  have  been  bach- 
elors of  science  and  2  masters  of  arts.  The  others  have  been  bachelors 


BEREA    COLLEGE.  183 

of  arts.  Of  the  alumni  a  number  have  distinguished  themselves  in  the 
learned  professions,  more  largely  in  teaching  and  the  ministry  than  in 
any  others. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

A  History  of  the  Baptists  of  Kentucky,  by  J.  H.  Spencer,  Cincinnati,  1885. 
The  Baptist  Encyclopedia,  by  William  Cathcart,  Philadelphia,  1884. 
Various  newspaper  sketches  and  other  facts,  furnished  by  President  Ryland. 
Collins's  and  Smith's  histories;    The  Biographical  Encyclopedia  of  Kentucky; 
Henderson's  Centennial  Exhibits;  Barnard's  Journal  of  Education. 

BEREA, COLLEGE,  BEREA. 

The  chief  founder  of  Berea  College  is  Rev.  John  G.  Fee,  for  it  was 
largely  through  his  influence  and  efforts  that  the  school  was  first  estab- 
lished, being,  as  it  is,  the  direct  outgrowth  of  the  antislavery  agita- 
tion in  which  he  was  engaged  in  eastern  Kentucky. 

Mr.  Fee  is  a  native  of  Kentucky  and  was  educated  at  Augusta  Col- 
lege. He  later  studied  theology  at  Lane  Theological  Seminary,  and 
while  there,  after  much  deliberation,  adopted  the  tenets  of  the  aboli- 
tionists. He  labored  for  two  years  in  the  Presbyterian  ministry  in 
eastern  Kentucky,  but  at  the  end  of  that  time  withdrew  from  that 
church  because  he  was  not  in  accord  with  it  on  the  slavery  question. 
He  then  labored  for  eight  years1  in  that  section,  organizing  autislavery 
churches,  and  finally,  in  1854,  upon  the  invitation  of  Cassius  M.  Clay, 
the  great  Kentucky  abolitionist,  established  Berea  Church  in  the 
southern  part  of  Madison  County,  Ky.,  around  which  as  a  center  Berea 
College  has  since  grown  up.  Mr.  Fee  became  the  pastor  of  Berea 
Church  in  1855,  a  position  from  the  active  duties  of  which  he  has  only 
recently  retired,  and  still  lives  to  watch  over  the  interests  of  the  insti- 
tution growing  out  of  that  church  and  of  whose  board  of  trustees  he  is 
yet  a  member. 

For  many  years  during  his  early  labors  he  was  largely  supported  in 
his  work  by  the  American  Missionary  Association,  and  so  this  society 
may,  in  a  sense,  be  called  a  co-founder  of  the  school,  although  it  has 
never  had  any  direct  share  in  the  management  of  the  institution.  It, 
however,  paid  the  larger  part  of  Mr.  Fee's  salary  for  thirty-four  years, 
and  also  that  of  other  teachers  connected  with  the  school  at  different 
times,  and,  in  many  ways,  encouraged  the  enterprise. 

The  school  out  of  which  Berea  College  has  since  developed  was 
established  as  a  necessary  means  of  sustaining  Mr.  Fee's  antislavery 
agitation,  and  was  first  opened  in  the  early  part  of  1855.  Its  first 
teachers  were  William  E.  Lincoln  and  Otis  B.  Waters,  who  came  from 
Oberlin  College,  Ohio,  of  which  institution  Berea  may,  in  a  way,  be 
considered  an  offshoot,  since  half  or  more  of  all  its  teachers  up  to  the 
present  time  have  been  educated  there.  Mr.  Waters  remained  at  Berea 

'Mr.  Fee  began  preaching  in  Lewis  and  Bracken  counties  in  1845.  He  first 
preached  at  Berea  in  1853,  the  year  before  his  establishment  of  the  church  there. 


184  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

for  two  years  and  Mr.  Lincoln  a  short  while  longer,  and,  in  the  early  part 
of  1858,  the  third  teacher,  also  from  Oberlin,  Rev.  J.  A.  R.  Rogers, 
arrived. 

Professor  Rogers  may  be  called  the  first  principal  of  the  school,  and 
was  destined  to  have  more  to  do  with  shaping  its  future  than  perhaps 
any  other  one  man  except  Mr.  Fee.  He  opened  a  school  in  a  small, 
rude  building  prepared  for  it  soon  after  his  arrival,  with  his  wife  as  an 
assistant  teacher.  There  were  at  first  only  15  pupils,  but  before  the 
end  of  the  term  the  energy  and  enthusiasm  of  the  new  principal  had 
brought  the  enrollment  up  to  96,  and  at  the  commencement  held  at 
that  time  subscriptions  were  raised  to  btfild  an  addition  to  the  school- 
house. 

During  the  next  term,  beginning  in  September,  1858,  Professor 
Rogers  was  assisted  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  G.  Hanson,  and  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  school,  notwithstanding  its  distinctively  antislavery  char- 
acter and  sentiments,  attracted  the  patronage  even  of  slaveholding 
parents.  A  considerable  number  of  these,  however,  withdrew  their 
children  at  the  end  of  the  session  on  account  of  the  expression  of  a 
sentiment,  in  connection  with  a  discussion  in  one  of  the  school  literary 
societies,  in  favor  of  the  admission  of  colored  students  should  they 
apply.  The  school,  however,  continued  under  the  same  teachers  until 
closed,  as  we  shall  see,  by  the  excitement  due  to  the  opening  events  of 
the  civil  war,  especially  the  John  Brown  raid. 

Meanwhile  steps  had  been  taken  to  enlarge  the  scope  of  the  enter 
prise,  and,  on  September  7,  1858,  a  number  of  the  friends  of  the  school 
met  at  the  residence  of  Mr.  Fee  to  organize  a  college  board  of  trustees 
and  prepare  a  constitution  for  the  incorporation  of  an  institution  of 
that  grade.  A  constitution  was  then  drawn  up  by  a  committee  of 
which  Professor  Rogers  was  chairman,  which,  after  considerable  dis- 
cussion among  the  friends  of  the  undertaking,  was  finally  adopted, 
substantially  in  its  original  form,  in  July,  1859.  The  general  character 
of  this  instrument  and  the  nature  of  the  institution  it  proposed  to  call 
into  existence  may  be  seen  from  the  following  clauses: 

This  college  shall  be  under  an  influence  strictly  Christian,  and,  as  such,  opposed 
to  sectarianism,  slaveholding,  caste,  and  every  other  wrong  institution  or  practice.1 

The  object  of  this  college  shall  be  to  furnish  the  facilities  for  a  thorough  educa- 
tion to  all  persons  of  good  moral  character,  at  the  least  possible  expense  to  the  same, 
and  all  the  inducements  and  facilities  for  manual  labor  Avhich  can  reasonably  be 
supplied  by  the  board  of  trustees  shall  be  offered  to  the  students. - 

At  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  a  board  of  trustees, 
composed  of  Rev.  John  G.  Fee,  Rev.  J.  S.  Davis,  Rev.  George  Candee, 
John  Burnham,  John  Smith,  William  Stapp,  Jacob  Emrick,  T.  J.  Ren 
fro,  John  G.  Hanson,  and  Rev.  J.  A.  R.  Rogers,  was  organized  and  steps 
taken  to  secure,  under  the  general  statutes  of  the  State,  a  charter  for 
the  proposed  college.  Four  of  the  trustees  had  already  purchased,  at 

Prudential  Committee  History,  p.  18.  2Ibid. 


BEREA    COLLEGE.  185 

their  own  risk,  for  $1,800,  as  a  desirable  site  for  the  proposed  institu- 
tion, a  tract  of  land  containing  more  than  100  acres,  about  45  acres  of 
which,  beautifully  situated  and  shaded  with  forest  oaks,  constitute  the 
campus  upon  which  the  present  buildings  of  the  college  are  located. 
Mr.  Fee  had  gone  east  to  secure  funds  to  pay  for  this  property,  and 
otherwise  inaugurate  the  work.  The  John  Brown  raid  occurred  just  at 
this  time  and  caused  the  enterprise  to  be  abandoned  for  some  time. 

The  scho  )1  had  already  aroused  considerable  opposition  in  the  State, 
on  account  of  its  pronounced  antislavery  sentiments  and  its  attitude 
on  the  race  question,  and  its  friends,  especially  Mr.  Fee,  had  suffered 
harsh  treatment  on  several  occasions  from  the  rougher  elements  of 
the  com  inanity,  led  by  those  opposed  to  abolitionism.  So  the  John 
Brown  raid,  which  really  frightened  the  South  generally  as  to  the 
dangers  of  slave  insurrections,  led  to  an  organized  effort  to  suppress 
the  institution.  A  large  county  convention  held  in  Richmond,  Ky., 
appointed  a  committee  of  sixty-five  men,  many  of  them  wealthy  and 
honorable,  to  see  that  it  was  removed  from  the  State,  which  uwas 
accomplished  with  as  much  dignity  and  decorum  as  is  consistent  with 
such  an  enterprise.''1  On  December  23,  1859,  this  committee  notified 
Professor  Rogers  and  ten  others,  including  Mr.  Fee,  that  they  must 
leave  the  State  in  ten  days.  As  the  governor,  when  appealed  to,  informed 
them  that,  owing  to  the  state  of  public  opinion,  he  could  not  guarantee 
them  protection,  they  thought  it  best  to  leave  the  State  temporarily, 
and  accordingly  departed  with  their  families,  numbering  about  forty 
persons.  So  the  school  was  closed  for  the  time  being,  without  having 
been  fully  inaugurated  as  a  college. 

In  1865  the  friends  of  the  institution  returned,  the  board  of  trustees 
was  reorganized,  a  charter  for  a  college  obtained  under  a  general  law 
of  the  State,  and  it  was  reopened  as  Berea  College,  the  teachers  at 
that  time  being  Professor  Rogers  and  wife,  together  with  W.  W. 
Wheeler  and  wife.  Soon  75  or  more  students  were  in  attendance,  but 
when  in  the  early  part  of  1866  3  colored  youths  applied  for  admission 
and  were,  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  college  constitution, 
received,  on  this  account  half  of  the  other  students  left.  The  places 
of  these  were,  however,  soon  more  than  supplied,  mainly  by  additional 
colored  pupils,  who,  with  other  students,  came  in  such  large  numbers 
in  1866-67  that  temporary  buildings  had  to  be  constructed  for  their 
accommodation.  Within  three  years  the  school  was  more  than  twice 
as  large  as  before,  having  in  1869  301  students  and  7  teachers.  Up  to 

is  time,  as  no  students  of  advanced  grade  were  in  attendance,  only 
normal  and  college  preparatory  classes  were  maintained,  and  Professor 
Rogers,  who  remained  at  the  head  of  the  institution,  retained  the  title 
of  principal. 

In  July,  1868,  E.  H.  Fairchild,  an  alumnus  of  Oberlin  and  a  man  of 
ripe  scholarship  and  varied  educational  experience,  was  called  to  the 


Special  Report  of  Bureau  of  Education  for  1886  on  New  Orleans  Exposition,  p.  230. 


186  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

presidency  of  the  institution.  He  assumed  the  duties  of  the  position 
in  April,  18G9,  in  which  year  a  regular  college  class  of  5  members  was 
first  organized,  and  the  school  may  be  said  to  have  started  on  its  career 
as  a  real  college.  President  Fairchild  remained  at  its  head  for  twenty 
years,  during  which  he  labored  assiduously  and  successfully  in  its 
behalf.  Professor  Rogers  long  remained  a  prominent  member  of  its 
faculty  and  is  still  a  valued  friend  and  trustee  of  the  institution. 
John  G.  Hanson  is  another  of  its  early  teachers  and  promoters  who, 
with  Mr.  Fee  and  Professor  Rogers,  has  had  an  important  share  in  its 
later  success  and  prosperity. 

The  institution  soon  made  marked  progress  under  President  Fair- 
child's  able  management.  In  the  first  year  of  his  administration  How- 
ard Hall,  a  commodious  frame  dormitory  for  young  men,  was  erected 
by  the  Freedrnen's  Bureau  at  a  cost  of  $18,000,  and  in  1870-71  Ladies' 
Hall,  a  large  and  elegant  brick  building  with  all  the  modern  improve- 
ments, costing,  with  its  equipments,  $oO,000,  was  added  for  the  accom- 
modation of  young  ladies,  the  policy  of  Berea,  like  that  of  her  foster 
mother,  Oberlin,  having  been  coeducational  from  the  beginning. 

The  aim  of  the  institution  has  been  especially  to  reach  two  classes  of 
students,  which  its  record  and  location  put  it  in  a  particularly  favor- 
able position  to  attract.  These  are  the  poorer  white  people  of  the 
eastern  part  of  the  State  and  the  colored  element  of  the  other  portion. 
It  was  Berea's  strategic  position,  thus  on  the  border  of  what  are  com 
monly  known  as  the  mountain  and  blue-grass  sections  of  the  State, 
that  first  suggested  it  to  Mr.  Fee,  through  General  Clay,  as  a  favorable 
point  for  the  promulgation  of  his  antislavery  ideas  and  has  since  given 
its  college  a  particularly  fine  opportunity  to  reach  the  classes  just  men- 
tioned. The  institution  has  also,  especially  in  recent  years,  attracted 
many  students  from  the  Northern  States.  As  the  advantages  of  many 
of  its  students  have  been  very  limited,  the  college  has  been  compelled 
to  sustain  all  departments  of  instruction  from  primary  to  collegiate. 
Besides  regular  classical  and  literary  college  courses,  it  has  maintained 
a  normal  course,  for  one  of  its  special  offices  has  been  to  prepare  teach- 
ers for  the  public  schools  of  the  State,  especially  the  colored  public 
schools,  where  well-qualified  teachers  have  been  much  needed.  It  also, 
according  to  the  terms  of  its  original  constitution,  endeavors  to  place 
its  advantages  within  the  reach  of  as  many  as  possible  by  making  its 
tuition  fees  and  rates  for  board  quite  moderate  and  by  furnishing  all 
the  opportunities  it  can  for  students  to  support  themselves  by  manual 
labor.  At  least  for  a  considerable  portion  of  its  history  its  affairs  have 
been  so  managed  that  less  than  $100  a  year  would  pay  all  a  student's 
expenses  except  clothing,  and  this  small  amount  might  be  considerably 
reduced  by  laboring  in  shop  or  kitchen. 

Largely  because  of  the  poverty  of  its  students,  who  are  not  able  to 
remain  to  complete  their  courses,  the  attendance  upon  its  college 
classes  has  not  been  large,  but  the  matriculation  in  other  departments 
has  as  a  rule  been  excellent,  often  more  than  could  be  well  accommo- 


BEREA    COLLEGE.  187 

dated  by  the  means  at  command.  The  attendance  had  regularly 
increased  since  1869,  until  in  1 881-8 J  there  were  15  teachers  and  402 
students,  12  States  of  the  Union  having  been  represented  as  early  as 
1872. 

The  course  of  instruction,  as  originally  outlined  in  1869,  included  a 
classical  course  of  four  years,  a  ladies7  course  of  three  years,  and  a 
normal  course  of  two  years,  besides  preparatory,  academic,  intermedi- 
ate, and  primary  departments.  In  1873  the  ladies'  course  was  extended 
to  four  years,  and  a  special  normal  course  of  three  years  was  instituted. 
In  that  year  the  institution  sent  out  its  first  graduating  class  of  4 
members. 

As,  according  to  its  policy,  its  own  income  from  tuition  was  very 
small,  the  college  was,  during  its  early  years,  largely,  it  is  even  yet  par- 
tially, supported  by  annual  contributions  from  friends,  mainly  in  the 
North.  It  soon,  however,  began  to  acquire  something  in  the  way  of 
permanent  endowment.  By  1876  this  amounted  to  $24, 000, ]  and  at 
that  time  its  grounds  and  buildings  were  valued  at  $100.000,  and  its 
library  contained  1,000  volumes.  In  1881-82  the  endowment  was 
increased  by  about  $50,000,  $30,000  of  which  was  given  by  0.  F.  Dike, 
of  Illinois,  and  C.  F.  Hammond,  of  New  York.  In  this  year  also  the 
complement  of  scientific  apparatus  having  been  improved,  the  pre- 
vious ladies7  course  was  changed  into  a  scientific  one  leading  to  a 
regular  degree. 

The  growth  of  the  institution  continued  steadily  during  the  remainder 
of  President  Fairchild's  administration,  which  terminated  with  his 
death  on  October  2,  1889.  In  1883-84  new  buildings  for  the  lower 
departments  and  a  new  frame  chapel,  the  latter  costing  $9,000,  were 
added  to  the  college  equipment,  and  in  1887  Lincoln  Hall,  a  large  and 
superb  new  brick  recitation  building,  costing  about  $32,000,  was  erected 
through  the  liberality  of  itoswell  Smith,  of  New  York  City,  assisted  by 
S.  D.  Warren,  of  Boston,  Mass.  The  college  then  had  nine  buildings, 
worth  $112,000,  its  endowment  approximated  $100,000,  its  library  con- 
tained over  4,000  volumes,  its  faculty  18  members,  and  its  students 
represented  19  States.  Its  annual  deficit2  had,  however,  grown  with 
its  expansion,  and  was  then  $8,000  a  year. 

Its  students  had  not  only  increased  in  numbers,  but  more  of  them 
were  in  the  higher  departments.  The  average  ratio  of  the  white  to 
colored  students  during  this  period  of  the  institution's  history  was 
about  1  to  2.  Since  1873  from  3  to  4  graduates  had  been  sent  out  each 
year,  and  at  the  time  of  President  Fairchild's  death  there  were  44 
alumni,  28  in  the  classical  and  16  in  the  scientific  course,  31  of  whom 
were  white  and  13  colored,  the  former  having  been  able,  as  a  rule,  to 
remain  in  college  longer  and  so  complete  their  course  in  a  larger  ratio. 


1  Only  $19,000  of  this,  however,  was  then  productive. 

2 The  amount  its  expenses  exceeded  its  income,  which  had  to  be  secured  in  contri- 
butions each  year. 


18-8  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

Of  the  graduates  up  to  this  time,  two- fifths  had  chosen  teaching  as  a 
profession,  and  nearly  as  many  had  entered  the  ministry.  President 
Fairchild  left  the  institution  with  a  greatly  enlarged  equipment,  and 
had  gathered  for  it  an  endowment,  estimated  at  $100,000,  not  all  of 
which,  however,  was  yet  productive.  This  endowment  had  been  mainly 
given  by  Northern  persons  who  had  become  interested  in  the  institution, 
only  a  few  thousand  dollars  of  it  having  come  from  Kentucky. 

In  1890,  Rev.  William  B.  Stewart,  D,  D.,  became  Mr.  Fairchild's  sue 
cessor  in  the  presidency  of  the  institution.     During  President  Stewart's 
administration,  extending  through  two  years,  a  Bible  department  for 
prospective  candidates  for  the  ministry,  which  has  since  been  discon 
tinued,  was  instituted,  and  a  course  leading  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Philosophy  was  added  to  the  previous  college  courses  leading  to  the 
degrees  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  and  Bachelor  of  Science.     A  system  of 
elective  studies  was  also  introduced  into  the  collegiate  department, 
especially  in  the  classical  and  philosophical  courses. 

In  1892,  President  Stewart  resigned  and  the  presidency  of  the  college, 
which  had  been  tendered  to  Rev.  William  G.  Frost,  Ph.  D.,  D.  D.,  just 
prior  to  President  Fairchild's  death  but  had  then  been  declined  for 
personal  reasons,  was  again  offered  to  him  and  was  accepted  at  this 
time,  the  new  president  entering  upon  his  duties  in  the  summer  of  that 
year.  Dr.  Frost  is  a  graduate  of  Oberlin  in  the  class  of  1876;  he  after- 
wards studied  for  some  time  at  Harvard  and  other  institutions  in  this 
country,  and  then  abroad.  He  had  already  become  known  as  a  popular 
and  vigorous  teacher,  the  author  of  scholarly  text-books,  an  earnest  and 
effective  preacher,  and  a  lyceum  lecturer  of  considerable  repute. 

Under  his  administration,  notwithstanding  the  general  financial  dis- 
tress throughout  the  country,  the  work  of  the  college  has  steadily  pro- 
gressed. The  matriculation  increased  40  per  cent  during  the  first  year 
of  his  term  of  office,  in  which  a  course  leading  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Letters  was  substituted  for  the  previous  scientific  one  and  a  newly 
organized  normal  course,  designed  to  bring  the  institution  into  closer 
touch  with  the  public  schools  of  the  State,  was  established,  while  a  new 
"Model  Home"  was  erected  for  training  in  domestic  industry.  In 
1894-95,  a  fine  new  manual  training  building  was  erected,  largely  by 
the  labor  of  the  students  themselves.  In  this  there  are  the  usual  machine 
shops  for  the  working  of  wood  and  metal  while  a  printing  office  is  attached 
and  arrangements  have  been  made  for  the  introduction  of  other  forms 
of  productive  industry.  The  completion  of  this  building  marked  the 
addition  of  about  $50,000  to  the  college  equipment  during  the  previous 
thirteen  years,  and  made  the  educational  plant  of  the  institution  consist 
of  eleven  buildings,  estimated  to  be  worth  $130,000. 

In  the  last  three  years  several  small  buildings  have  been  erected  to 
accommodate  the  increased  attendance,  among  them  a  dormitory,  fur- 
nishing rooms  for  about  20  young  men,  given  by  A.  P.  Nichols,  of 
Haverhill,  Mass.  A  new  department  of  horticulture  and  biology, 


BEREA    COLLEGE.  189 

including  forestry,  has  also  been  created,  the  aim  being  to  make  this 
an  important  feature,  and  thus,  as  President  Frost  expresses  it,  "bring 
down  the  great  arm  of  science  to  help  the  poor."  1  Within  the  present 
summer  a  new  building  for  the  practical  scientific  departments  of  the 
institution  has  been  partially  completed.  The  complement  of  apparatus 
in  these  departments  is  now  quite  good,  while  the  college  library  has 
increased  to  about  13,000  volumes,  and  bookbinding  has  been  added 
to  the  list  of  productive  industries.  All  these  make  the  educational 
facilities  offered  at  Berea  among  the  best  to  be  found  in  the  State. 

The  college  has  not  for  several  years  been  aided  by  the  American 
Missionary  Association  or  any  other  benevolent  society,  but  has 
depended  on  the  income  from  its  endowment,  the  small  amount  received 
from  student  fees,  and  the  contributions  of  those  interested  in  its 
work.  With  the  growing  wants  of  the  institution,  the  amount  annually 
required  from  this  last  source  has  of  late  been  about  $12,000.  To  meet 
this  constantly  recurring  deficit,  which  is  likely  to  increase  rather  than 
diminish,  the  friends  of  the  institution  have  lately  endeavored  to 
increase  its  endowment  by  $200.000.  The  practical  beginning  of  this 
movement  was  made  at  the  commencement  of  June,  1895,  when  Dr. 
D.  K.  Pearsons,  of  Chicago,  111.,  pledged  himself  to  give  $50,000  to  the 
college  funds  if  an  additional  $150,000  should  be  raised.  An  earnest 
effort  was  at  once  inaugurated  to  fulfill  the  conditions  of  this  generous 
donation,  the  students  of  the  college  themselves  contributing  several 
thousand  dollars  for  this  purpose.  The  effort  has  since  been  zealously 
prosecuted  and,  despite  the  stringency  of  financial  affairs,  seems  likely 
to* be  soon  crowned  with  success,  as  by  the  middle  of  the  present 
summer  $85,000  of  the  conditional  amount  had  been  subscribed. 

The  annual  matriculation  of  the  institution  has  continued  to  increase 
during  President  Frost's  administration,  reaching  597  in  all  depart- 
ments in  1896-97,  and  approximating  700  in  the  year  just  closed. 
Among  the  students  of  late  have  been  a  number  from  various  Northern 
States,  as  many  as  12  States  of  that  section  having  recently  contributed 
matriculates.  In  1896-97  21  States  of  the  Union  were  represented  by 
the  whole  student  body.  For  a  number  of  years  past  the  ratio  of  white 
to  colored  students  has  been  constantly  increasing,  until  now  the  former 
are  considerably  in  the  majority  in  the  institution. 

Berea  has  maintained  a  high  standard  of  scholarship,  which,  com- 
bined with  the  limited  means  of  most  of  her  students,  has  made  her 
college  classes  small  and  her  number  of  graduates  each  year  few.  The 
usual  number  of  graduates  annually  since  1873  has  been  three  or  four, 
except  in  the  last  two  years,  during  which  there  have  been  about  twelve 
graduated  each  year.  The  number  of  alumni  at  present  approximates 
100.  Of  these  several  have  distinguished  themselves  in  teaching,  jour- 
nalism, and  the  ministry,  as  alsa  in  political  and  business  life. 

The  course  of  instruction  in  the  collegiate  department  is  divided  into 

1  Personal  letter  of  March  19, 1898. 


190  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

the  departments  of  English,  history,  political  science,  philosophy,  peda 
gogics,  evidences  of  Christianity,  physics  and  astronomy,  chemistry 
and  mineralogy,  biology,  geology,  mathematics,  Latin  language  and 
literature,  Greek  language  and  literature,  German,  and  Bible  and 
Christian  religion.  The  usual  combinations  of  these  subjects  lead  to 
the  three  degree  courses,  of  four  years  each,  already  indicated,  consid- 
erable latitude  being  allowed  in  the  shaping  of  one's  course  by  the  choice 
of  elective  studies,  which  may  be  substituted  for  others  usual  in  each 
course.  There  are  also  an  academic  or  preparatory  department,  with 
a  four  years7  course  of  instruction;  a  normal  department,  with  a  three 
years'  course,  with  model  primary,  intermediate,  and  grammar  schools, 
extending  through  six  years,  attached;  a  department  of  industry, 
including  manual  training,  printing,  horticulture,  and  domestic  science; 
a  department  of  music,  drawing,  and  painting,  and  a  business  school. 
A  diploma  is  conferred  for  the  successful  completion  of  the  courses  in 
the  normal  department  and  the  department  of  music,  while  a  certificate 
is  granted  in  like  manner  in  the  business  school. 

The  faculty  of  the  collegiate,  academic,  and  normal  departments  was, 
in  June,  1898,  constituted  as  follows :  Rev.  William  Goodell  Frost,  Ph.  D., 
president,  professor  of  mental  and  moral  philosophy,  and  lecturer  on 
education;  Eev.  John  Gregg  Fee,  A.M.,  lecturer  on  evidences  of  Chris- 
tianity and  Biblical  literature,  emeritus;  Le  Vant  Dodge,  A.  M.,  pro- 
fessor of  political  science  and  acting  professor  of  mathematics,  registrar; 
Bev.  Bruce  Samuel  Hunting,  A.  M.,  principal  of  preparatory  depart- 
ment and  professor  of  Latin;  Alwin  Ethelstan  Todd,  A.  M.,  professor 
of  natural  sciences,  librarian;  Silas  Cheever  Mason,  M.  S.,  acting  pro- 
fessor of  horticulture  and  biology;  Bev.  Henry  Mixter  Penniman,  pro- 
fessor of  Christian  evidences;  Miss  Josephine  A.  Bobinson,  A.  B., 
principal  of  the  ladies'  department  and  instructor  in  mathematics; 
Miss  Katharine  Gilbert,  A.  M.,  instructor  in  English,  German,  and 
French;  Ernest  Green  Dodge,  A.  M.,  acting  professor  of  Greek  and 
instructor  in  mathematics;  Edward  Brice  Evans,  A.  B.,  instructor  in 
history  and  Latin;  Mrs.  Eliza  H.  Yocuin,  A.  M.,  instructor  in  methods 
of  teaching  and  dean  of  the  normal  department.  This  faculty  has 
been  much  strengthened  during  the  present  summer  by  the  addition  of 
George  T.  Fairchild,  LL.  D.,  who  is  an  educator  of  repute,  recently 
connected  with  the  Kansas  State  Agricultural  College,  and  is,  at  Berea? 
to  occupy  the  chair  of  English,  and  also  to  become  vice-president  of  the 
college.  Besides  the  faculty  just  enumerated,  the  adjunct  departments 
of  music  and  industry  and  the  model  and  commercial  schools  employ 
15  other  teachers  and  instructors,  making  the  total  educational  corps 
to  include  28  teachers. 

The  plan  upon  which  Berea  is  conducted  in  regard  to  the  races  is 
not  indorsed  by  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  citizens  of  the  State  in 
which  it  is  located,  but  these  have,  as  a  rule,  long  ago  ceased  to  exer- 
cise even  antipathy  toward  the  institution,  which,  on  its  part,  proceeds 


LYNNLAND    INSTITUTE.  191 

upon  what  it  considers  its  own  special  mission  without  any  spirit  of 
condemnation  for  those  who  think  and  do  differently.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  the  institution  has  done  a  great  educational  work  for 
classes  in  Kentucky  especially  who,  at  least  until  the  present,  would 
otherwise  have  been  much  neglected  and  among  whom  there  is  yet 
much  to  be  done.  It  has  accomplished  much  in  the  way  of  furnishing 
well-equipped  teachers  for  the  colored  schools  throughout  the  South, 
and  its  departments  of  manual  training  and  productive  industry,  upon 
which  it  is  now  putting  emphasis,  are  calculated  especially  to  do  much 
for  the  colored  race  in  the  future. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Berea  College,  an  interesting  history,  published  by  the  .approval  of  the  prudential 
committee  (of  the  board  of  trustees),  Cincinnati,  1883. 

Special  report  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  on  educational  exhibits 
and  conventions  at  the  New  Orleans  Exposition,  Washington,  1886,  contains  a 
sketch  of  the  college  by  President  Fairchild. 

The  sketch  of  the  college  has  been  based  mainly  on  the  above  two  authorities, 
but  use  has  also  been  made  of  Collins's  and  Perrin,  Battle  and  Kniften's  histories,  Hen- 
derson's Centennial  Exhibits,  and  Barnard's  Journal  of  Education,  as  well  as  the 
other  sources  of  information,  the  use  of  which  is  taken  for  granted. 

LYNNLAND   MALE   AND  FEMALE   INSTITUTE,   GLENDALE. 

This  institution,  although  bearing  the  name  of  institute,  is  entitled 
to  a  place  in  this  monograph  by  reason  of  its  work  being  of  a  grade 
equal  to  that  of  many  other  schools  of  the  State  which  bear  more  pre- 
tentious titles.  The  school  arose  from  a  local  demand  for  higher  edu- 
cation and  had  its  origin  in  an  association  of  well  to  do  .farmers  of  the 
vicinity  of  Glendale,  Hardin  County,  who  about  the  early  part  of  1860 
organized  themselves  into  a  stock  company  for  the  promotion  of  edu- 
cation in  their  midst  and  subscribed  a  sufficient  amount  to  purchase  an 
eligible  location  of  something  over  100  acres  adjacent  to  the  Louisville 
and  Nashville  Kailroad  and  to  erect  on  it  a  large  and  imposing  build- 
ing. This  structure  is  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  beautiful  campus  of 
10  acres,  shaded  with  native  oaks,  and  cost  about  $2S,()00,  including  its 
equipment,  which  embraced  quite  a  good  complement,  for  the  time,  of 
chemical  and  philosophical  apparatus.  Among  those  who  may  be 
mentioned  as  mainly  instrumental  in  promoting  the  enterprise  were 
T.  J.  Jeffries,  William  Sprigg,  Samuel  Sprigg,  Henry  Sprigg,  and  J.  R. 
Gaither,  who  composed  its  lirst  board  of  trustees. 

The  institution  was  first  opened,  under  the  name  of  Lynuland  Insti- 
tute, in  the  autumn  of  1866,  and  had  Rev.  Mr.  Colson  as  its  first  princi- 
pal. The  views  of  its  projectors  soon  enlarged,  and  in  1867  they  secured 
a  charter  for  the  institute,  conferring  upon  it  all  the  usual  collegiate 
powers  and  privileges.  It  had  been  originally  intended  primarily  to 
meet  a  local  educational  want  in  the  neighborhood  in  which  it  was 
situated  and  has  always  maintained  somewhat  of  a  local  character, 
although  frequently  drawing  many  students  from  other  parts  of  the 


192  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

State  and  elsewhere.  It  has  never  been  put  cm  a  distinctively  denom- 
inational basis,  but  has  since  its  foundation  been  conducted  in  a  general 
way  under  the  auspices  of  Salern  Baptist  Association. 

In  the  fall  of  1868  Gen.  W.  F.  Perry,  who  has  been  prominent  in 
educational  circles  in  Alabama  and  Kentucky,  both  before  and  since, 
took  Kev.  Mr.  Colsoii's  place  as  executive  head  of  the  institution  and 
thus  became  its  first  president  under  its  college  charter  which  then 
went  into  operation.  President  Perry  had  associated  with  him  in  the 
various  departments  a  faculty  of  six  teachers,  under  whom  a  course  of 
instruction  embracing  preparatory,  academic,  and  collegiate  depart- 
ments was  instituted.  In  order  to  properly  prepare  its  own  students 
for  the  work  of  its  higher  classes,  and  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  com- 
munity in  which  it  is  located,  the  institute  has  always  found  it  neces- 
sary to  maintain  a  preparatory  department  and  even,  for  part  of  the 
time  during  its  history,  a  primary  department.  Eegular  college  courses 
leading  to  the  degrees  of  bachelor  of  arts  and  bachelor  of  science  were 
conducted  during  President  Perry's  administration.  Tbis  lasted  eleven 
years,  and  during  that  time  the  reputation  of  the  school  throughout 
the  State  grew  to  be  considerable. 

Its  annual  matriculation  during  this  period  varied  from  about  75  to 
160,  and  its  graduates  numbered  about  75,  some  of  whom  have  become 
prominent  in  the  various  professions,  especially  that  of  teaching.  The 
institution  was  coeducational  from  the  beginning,  being  thus  among 
the  first  schools  of  the  State  to  try  this  educational  experiment.  Its 
standard  of  scholarship  was  always  high,  but  it  was  not  a  financial 
success  at  the  time,  and  so  went  into  the  hands  of  a  receiver  in  1879, 
at  which  time  General  Perry  resigned  its  presidency. 

It  was  then  closed  for  several  years  and  its  building  was  partially 
used  as  a  residence.  In  1889  its  property,  which  had  been  acquired  by 
one  of  its  former  trustees,  was  purchased  by  Professors  E.  W.  Elrod 
and  E.  W.  White,  who  for  several  years  had  as  co  principals  been 
successfully  conducting  Liberty  College,  at  Glasgow,  Ky.,  then  an  exclu- 
sive female  college.  In  like  manner  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  Lynn- 
land  was  reopened  by  them  as  an  institution  for  young  ladies  only, 
although  still  under  the  same  charter  and  bearing  the  same  title. 

The  course  of  instruction  under  the  new  order  of  things  included 
departments  of  music  and  art,  as  well  as  of  English  history,  mental  and 
moral  philosophy,  mathematics,  Latin,  modern  languages,  and  natural 
science,  different  combinations  of  which  led,  as  formerly,  to  the  degree 
of  bachelor  of  arts  and  bachelor  of  science.  Five  other  teachers  were 
associated  with  the  principals  in  the  work  of  teaching,  and  during  the 
first  year  of  their  administration  54  pupils  were  in  attendance,  two  of 
whom  were  graduated  at  the  end  of  the  year.  In  the  following  year 
the  attendance  increased  so  that  additional  boarding  accommodations 
had  to  be  provided,  while  the  graduating  class  had  three  members. 
During  the  next  session  an  additional  building  was  erected,  so  that  50 


CENTRAL   UNIVERSITY.  193 

boarders  could  be  accommodated,  and  about  $2,000  was  spent  in  enlarg- 
ing and  modernizing  the  scientific  apparatus  of  the  institution.  For 
the  next  three  years  the  annual  matriculation  was  about  60,  and  11 
students  were  graduated.  The  standard  of  scholarship  and  the  repu- 
tation of  the  institution  were  good  in  comparison  with  similar  institu- 
tions throughout  the  State,  but,  for  a  second  time,  owing  it  seems  to 
the  panic  of  1893,  it  was  not  a  financial  success,  and  in  1895  had  to 
be  relinquished  by  Professors  Elrod  and  White,  who  have  since  been 
connected  with  Georgetown  College,  Kentucky.  The  property  was  then 
purchased  by  Prof.  W.  B.  Gwynn,  who  took  charge  in  1895  and  has 
since  conducted  the  institution,  having  changed  it  back  to  its  original 
coeducational  basis,  as  is  shown  by  its  present  title.  At  the  opening 
of  his  administration  considerable  improvements  were  made  in  the 
buildings  and  equipment  of  the  institute  generally,  and  during  the  first 
year  63  students  were  matriculated.  The  faculty  at  the  time  and  since 
has  been  composed  of  six  teachers.  The  attendance  has  recently  risen 
to  80.  During  the  three  years,  respectively,  Professors  G.  H.  Watts, 
Jacob  Fisher,  and  Thomas  A.  Binford  have  been  vice-presidents.  The 
course  of  instruction  has  been  retained  substantially  as  it  was  formerly, 
and  the  graduates  for  this  period  number  7.  The  institution  seems  to 
be  making  good  and  substantial  progress  and  to  have  excellent  pros- 
pects for  the  future. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

The  facts  of  the  earlier  history  of  the  institute  have  been  furnished  by  President 
Perry.  Its  later  history  has  been  compiled  almost  entirely  from  catalogues. 

CENTRAL   UNIVERSITY,  RICHMOND. 

Central  University  is  composed  of  a.  college  of  philosophy,  letters,  and 
science,  a  college  of  law,  and  a  preparatory  school  located  in  Richmond, 
Ky.,  a  college  of  medicine  and  a  college  of  dentistry  located  in  Louis- 
ville, Ky.,  and  three  preparatory  and  training  schools  located  in  other 
parts  of  the  State.  As  the  principal  executive  office  of  the  institution 
is  situated  in  Richmond,  that  place  is  considered  more  especially  as  the 
seat  of  the  university.  It  is,  in  organization,  one  of  the  youngest  can- 
didates for  public  favor  among  the  institutions  for  higher  education  in 
Kentucky,  but  in  a  comparatively  short  while  has  won  a  right  to  stand 
beside  the  older  colleges  of  the  State  in  rank  and  influence.  It  is  also, 
in  the  extensive  use  of  the  term,  at  least,  more  nearly  a  real  university 
than  any  other  institution  in  the  State,  having  more  coordinate  depart- 
ments than  any  other  school  has  or  has  had,  except  Kentucky  University 
for  a  short  period  in  its  early  history. 

Central  University  was  established  under  the  auspices  and  is  now, 
in  a  sense,  under  the  control  of  the  Kentucky  synod  of  the  Southern 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  is  historically  the  outgrowth  of  the  educa- 
tional spirit  of  the  Presbyterians  of  Kentucky,  which  was  shown  in  the 
original  foundation  of  Transylvania  Seminary  and  later  of  Kentucky 
2127— No.  25 13 


194  HISTORY   OF   HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

Academy  and  then  of  Centre  College,  of  the  last  of  which,  as  its  name 
implies,  Central  University  is  both  a  continuation  and  a  sister  institu- 
tion, standing  in  the  same  relation  to  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church 
as  the  older  college  does  to  the  original  denominational  organization  in 
the  State. 

The  foundation  of  the  university  is  the  result  of  two  simultaneous 
movements,  the  participants  in  each  of  which  recognized  independ- 
ently of  each  other  the  need  of  such  an  institution  to  serve  the  object 
they  had  in  view.  The  first  of  these  was  a  church  movement,  origi- 
nating within  the  State  synod  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church. 
It  began  after  the  conference  held  at  Lexington  in  November,  1870, 
between  representatives  of  that  body  and  of  Kentucky  synod  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  ordinarily  called  in  contradistinction  the  North- 
ern Presbyterian  Church,  in  regard  to  the  question  of  the  adjustment 
of  the  property  rights  of  the  two  bodies  in  Centre  College,  had  proved 
barren  of  results  in  reaching  any  agreement  which  would  give  the 
synod  of  the  Southern  church  any  share  in  the  management  of  that 
institution.  The  Southern  synod  accordingly  determined  to  establish 
a  college  of  similar  compass  under  its  own  control,  and  at  its  next 
meeting  in  November,  1871,  resolutions  were  passed  upon  motion  of 
Dr.  Stuart  Kobiuson,  of  Louisville,  looking  toward  the  immediate 
endowment  and  equipment  of  such  an  institution.  The  synod  at  first 
only  aimed  to  establish  a  denominational  college  of  similar  rank  and 
scope  with  Centre,  but  under  the  influence  of  the  other  movement  just 
referred  to,  which  occurred  at  the  same  time,  was  induced  to  enlarge  its 
plans. 

This  second  movement  arose  from  the  conviction  of  a  number  of 
cultured  men  that  there  was  a  need  in  the  State  of  a  broad  and  com- 
prehensive university  which,  while  not  put  on  a  sectarian  basis,  should 
be  conducted  under  Christian  auspices.  This  feeling  was  voiced  by  an 
enthusiastic  convention,  composed  mainly  of  Centre  College  alumni, 
held  in  Lexington  on  May  7  and  8,  1872,  which  organized  itself  into  a 
permanent  alumni  association,  and  memorialized  synod,  about  to  meet 
in  the  same  place,  in  reference  to  the  immediate  establishment  of  such 
an  institution  under  its  patronage,  promising  an  earnest  cooperation  in 
the  design,  enthusiasm  in  behalf  of  which  was  shown  by  the  prompt 
subscription  by  the  members  of  the  convention  of  $50,000  toward  an 
endowment  fund.  The  memorial  of  the  convention  shows  its  spirit  by 
the  following  statement,  among  others: 

It  is  the  sense  of  this  convention  that  steps  be  taken  to  at  once  establish  on  a 
broad  and  liberal  basis  an  institution  of  the  highest  order  under  the  auspices  of 
the  synod  of  Kentucky,  and  thus  carry  out  the  earnest  wishes  of  the  fathers  as 
demonstrated  by  the  establishment  of  Centre  College,  now  lost  to  this  church.1 

It  was  also  proposed  that  the  new  institution  should  be  conducted 
under  the  joint  control  of  the  synod  and  the  association. 

1  Catalogue  of  1894-95,  p.  4. 


CENTRAL   UNIVERSITY.  195 

This  plan  was  generously  responded  to  by  the  synod,  and  on  May  8 
a  joint  committee  was  appointed  by  the  two  bodies  to  prepare  a  plan 
and  charter  carrying  out  this  combined  system  of  government  for  the 
projected  institution,  to  take  measures  to  secure  for  it  a  desirable 
location,  and  to  arrange  for  and  prosecute  its  endowment,  which  it  was 
proposed  should  not  be  less  than  $150,000  before  the  university  should 
be  opened,  while  it  was  aimed  to  make  it  at  least  $500,000. 

Among  those  who  may  be  mentioned  beside  Dr.  Eobinson  as  taking 
a  prominent  part  in  pushing  forward  the  enterprise,  either  as  members 
of  the  association  or  the  synod,  were  Rev.  Daniel  Breck,  D.  D.,  Eev. 
E.  Douglas,  D.  D.,  Eev.  J.  Y.  Logan,  D.  D.,  Eev.  L.  H.  Blanton,  D.  D., 
Hon.  T.  W.  Bullitt,  Col.  Bennett  H.  Young,  and  Joseph  Chambers,  esq. 

The  enthusiasm  for  the  undertaking  on  the  part  of  the  two  cooper- 
ating organizations  was  vigorous  from  the  beginning,  as  shown  by  the 
liberal  subscriptions  made  by  their  members  for  its  endowment,  which 
with  that  secured  by  the  committee  soon  exceeded  $100,000.  A  charter, 
which  had  been  drawn  up  by  the  committee,  was  also  adopted  by  both 
bodies,  and  was  approved  by  the  State  legislature  on  March  3,  1873. 
This  instrument  provided  for  the  inauguration,  with  full  powers,  of  all 
the  departments  of  a  university,  arranging  for  the  opening  of  a  college 
of  philosophy,  letters,  and  science,  on  the  model  of  the  best  univer- 
sities, in  conjunction  with  which  as  many  as  six  preparatory,  or  fitting, 
schools  might  be  established  in  different  portions  of  the  State,  and 
also  stating  that  the  institution  shall  provide  for  the  establishment,  "as 
soon  as  it  may  be  done  with  advantage,  of  a  department  of  law  and  a 
department  of  medicine.  It  shall  also  afford  every  facility  for  the 
establishment  by  the  synod  of  Kentucky  of  a  department  of  theology, 
either  of  itself  or  in  conjunction  with  any  of  its  co-synods  or  its 
assembly." l 

The  university  in  its  origin  was  thus  only  denominational  in  the 
sense  that  its  proposed  theological  department  was  to  be  controlled  as 
just  indicated,  and  the  power  of  appointing  its  professor  of  ethics  was 
to  be  vested  in  the  synod  of  Kentucky.  The  donors  of  its  endow- 
ment, who,  under  the  name  of  the  Alumni  Association  of  Central 
University,  were  to  elect  their  successors  from  among  the  alumni  of 
the  institution,  as  these  came  forth,  or  from  such  of  its  liberal  bene- 
factors as  they  might  select,  really  owned  and  directed  it,  as  by  them 
was  appointed  a  board  of  five  trustees,  elected  for  ten  years,  who 
looked  after  its  funds,  and  a  board  of  seven  curators,  one  elected  each 
year,  to  whom  the  direct  management  of  its  affairs  in  other  respects 
was  intrusted.  This  oversight,  peculiar  to  the  institution,  gave  all  the 
safeguards  that  are  to  be  found  in  ecclesiastical  supervision  and  control, 
and  at  the  same  time  guarded  against  the  tendencies  to  sectarianism 
incident  to  such  direction  under  its  ordinary  forms. 

By  an  act  of  April  17,  1884,  the  old  board  of  trustees  and  curators 

1  Section  7  of  charter  of  1873. 


196  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

was  done  away  with  and  the  governing  body  of  the  institution  was 
made  to  consist  of  a  chancellor  and  fifteen  curators,  two-thirds  of  the 
latter  being  required  to  be  members  of  the  alumni  association  and 
three  of  them  being  elected  each  year  by  the  synod.  This  has  made  the 
institution  somewhat  more  denominational,  but  not  materially  so,  as 
the  essential  principle  of  the  former  arrangement,  which  is  calculated 
to  inspire  confidence  and  arouse  favor  on  the  part  of  tlie  public  gen- 
erally, has  been  retained.  At  the  same  time  the  additional  beneficial 
effect  has  followed  of  causing  the  synod  to  take  more  interest  in  the 
institution  and  to  further  its  progress  more  materially,  as  has  been 
shown  by  the  gifts  since  received  from  that  source  to  the  endowment. 

The  internal  organization  of  the  institution  is  also  somewhat  peculiar. 
It  is  composed  of  independent  colleges,  with  a  president  at  the  head  of 
each  who  directs  its  special  work.  The  chief  executive  officer  of  the 
whole  university  is  a  chancellor,  who,  under  the  general  direction  and 
control  of  the  curators,  is  charged  with  the  general  supervision  of  its 
affairs,  both  financial  and  educational,  and  thus  imparts  unity  of  aim 
and  purpose  to  the  entire  organization.  One  of  the  chief  functions  of 
the  chancellor  is  to  look  after  the  enlargement  of  the  endowment  of  the 
institution. 

The  first  preliminary  step  looking  toward  the  opening  of  the  uni- 
versity took  place  on  April  29,  1873,  when  its  incorporators  met  in 
Louisville  and  effected  a  permanent  organization,  after  which  it  was 
arranged  to  settle  the  question  of  the  location  of  the  institution  through 
a  vote  of  the  alumni  association  and  others  who  had  subscribed  to  its 
funds.  In  this  way  it  was  first  located,  on  May  13  of  that  year,  at 
Anchorage,  near  Louisville,  and  a  temporary  organization  of  the  insti- 
tution took  place  at  Louisville  on  May  29  following.  This  selection 
was  afterwards  revoked  by  the  same  body  that  made  it,  and  new  bids 
having  been  solicited,  on  November  11, 1873,  it  was  permanently  organ- 
ized at  Eichmond,  which  place  was  finally  decided  upon  as  its  perma- 
nent seat.  That  town  had  offered,  as  an  inducement  to  secure  the 
institution,  $101,355,1  which,  together  with  the  subscriptions  already 
secured,  made  a  total  of  $220,000  provided  at  that  time  to  furnish  an 
equipment  and  endowment  for  the  institution. 

This  was  regarded  as  only  the  beginning  of  the  endowment  proposed, 
but  was  considered  sufficient  to  justify  the  inauguration  of  the  enter- 
prise, waiting  for  the  future  to  develop  more  fully  the  aims  in  view. 
Accordingly,  the  board  of  curators,  at  a  meeting  held  in  Eichmond  on 
December  30, 1873,  unanimously  resolved  to  open  the  colleges  of  phi- 
losophy, letters  and  science,  and  of  law,  and  a  first-class  preparatory 
school  in  the  following  September.  An  appropriation  was  made  for 
purchasing  a  suitable  campus,  and  $30,000  was  set  apart  for  the  con- 
struction of  the  main  college  building;  spacious  and  beautiful  grounds 

1  Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  246r.  Bardstown  and  Paris  were  also 
strong  competitors  for  the  location. 


CENTRAL    UNIVERSITY.  197 

adjoining  the  town  and  lying  in  a  square  nearly  one-fourth  of  a  mile  to 
the  side  were  soon  secured,  and  a  large  and  handsome  brick  building 
four  stories  in  height,  and  containing  a  commodious  chapel,  a  library, 
laboratories,  and  lecture  rooms,  erected. 

In  this  fine  new  structure  the  university  was  opened  on  September 
22,  1874.  Eev.  Stuart  Eobinson,  D.  D.,  had  been  made  its  chancel- 
lor at  first,  and  Eev.  E.  L.  Breck,  D.  D.,  vice-chancellor  and  active 
endowment  agent ;  but  Dr.  Eobiuson  soon  retired  from  the  chancellor- 
ship, the  duties  of  which  from  the  beginning  seem  to  have  been  dis- 
charged by  Dr.  Breck.  The  first  president  of  the  college  of  philosophy, 
letters,  and  science  was  Eev.  J,  W.  Pratt,  D.  D.,  the  faculty  of  this 
department,  as  announced  in  its  first  annual  catalogue,  being  consti- 
tuted as  follows:  Eev.  J.  W.  Pratt,  D.  D.,  president  and  professor  of 
the  English  language  and  literature  and  oratory;  Eev.  L.  G.  Barbour, 
A.  M.,  professor  of  pure  and  applied  mathematics  and  astronomy;  W. 
G.  Eichardson,  A.  M.,  professor  of  Latin  and  French;  Eev.  J.  Y. 
Logan,  A.  M.,  professor  of  logic  and  biblical  literature  and  the  synod's 
professor  of  ethics;  Eev.  E.  L.  Breck,  D.  D.,1  professor  of  psychology 
and  political  science;  J.  Alston  Oabell,  0.  E.,  M.  E.,B.  S.,  professor  of 
physics;  Hugh  A.  Moran,  A.  B.,  lecturer  on  history  and  mythology; 
W.  M.  Willson,  A.  M.,  professor  of  Greek;  A.  N.  Gordon,  B.  P., 
adjunct  professor  of  mathematics,  and  B.  Harrison  Waddell,  A.  M., 
professor  of  German  and  adjunct  professor  of  ancient  languages. 

The  law  college  had  a  faculty  of  three  professors,  with  C.  F.  Burn- 
ham,  LL.  D.,  as  president.  Just  prior  to  the  opening  of  these  depart- 
ments the  medical  college  of  the  university  was  organized  in  Louisville, 
under  the  name  of  the  Hospital  College  of  Medicine,  and  its  first  pre- 
liminary term  opened  there  on  September  7,  1874.  It  had  a  faculty  of 
nine  professors  and  several  assistants,  its  first  president  being  E,  D. 
Foree,  M.  D.,  and  its  first  dean  William  Boiling,  M.  D.  This  depart- 
ment and  the  college  of  dentistry,  which  has  since  been  added  as  a  new 
department  to  the  university,  have  been  located  in  Louisville,  particu- 
larly on  account  of  the  superior  clinical  advantages  offered  by  a  large 
city.  The  history  of  these  colleges  will  be  reserved  for  a  subsequent 
portion  of  this  article,  our  attention  being  confined  for  the  present  to 
the  general  history  of  the  university,  and  particularly  of  those  depart- 
ments of  it  located  at  Eichruond. 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  RICHMOND  DEPARTMENTS. 

During  the  first  session  of  the  college  of  philosophy,  letters,  and 
science,  117  students  were  in  attendance,  36  of  whom  were  in  the  colle- 
giate department.  A  regular  college  course  was  inaugurated  from  the 
beginning.  It  contained  the  nine  departments  of  Latin,  Greek,  ethics, 
evidences  of  Christianity  and  logic,  metaphysics  and  political  economy, 

!Dr.  Breck  at  this  time  held  a  chair  as  well  as  discharged  the  duties  of  the  chan- 
cellorship, an  arrangement  not  now  in  operation. 


198  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

mathematics,  English  language  and  literature,  physics  and  chemistry, 
mineralogy  and  geology,  and  modern  languages,  the  completion  of  the 
last  five  of  which  led  to  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  science,  while  all 
but  the  last  were  required  for  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts.  The 
college  had  at  its  opening  a  good  supply  of  scientific  apparatus  and  a 
library  of  nearly  1,000  volumes.  Its  annual  matriculation  during  the 
early  years  of  its  history  was  fairly  well  sustained,  being  usually  about 
100,  and  its  first  graduating  class  of  five  bachelors  of  arts  and  one 
bachelor  of  science  was  sent  out  in  1877. 

Owing  to  the  relation,  already  mentioned,  in  which  the  chancellor 
stands  to  the  institution,  a  large  part  of  the  responsibility  of  its  manage- 
ment naturally  falls  on  him,  and  upon  him  in  a  great  measure  depends 
its  success.  A  large  share  of  the  subsequent  prosperity  of  Central 
University  has  been  due  to  the  earnest,  self-sacrificing  efforts  of  its 
first  active  chancellor,  Dr.  Breck,  who,  although  comparatively  young, 
had  become  a  recognized  leader  of  his  church  in  Kentucky,  and  was  a 
man  of  strong  convictions  and  unwavering  courage.  He  threw  himself 
with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  his  nature  into  the  work  of  organizing  and 
equipping  the  institution,  and  to  him  are  its  foundations  largely  due. 
"To  his  zeal,  efficiency,  energy,  and  weight,  more  than  to  any  other 
man's,  Central  University  is  indebted  for  its  establishment."1  He  even 
sacrificed  his  health  in  its  service  and  on  that  account  was  soon  com- 
pelled to  sever  his  connection  with  it. 

The  institution  then  for  a  time  experienced  dark  days.  Owing  to  the 
general  financial  stringency  of  the  period  of  its  foundation,  trouble  had 
been  experienced  in  collecting  the  subscriptions  to  its  funds,  and  its 
affairs  otherwise  looked  so  gloomy  that  Dr.  Pratt  resigned  the  presi- 
dency of  the  college  of  letters,  and  its  law  college,  which  had  opened 
propitiously,  was  compelled  to  suspend  for  lack  of  sufficient  support. 
Many  friends  of  the  university  had  begun  to  despair  of  its  success,  when, 
in  looking  for  a  desirable  chancellor,  the  attention  of  the  board  of 
curators  was  drawn  to  the  qualifications  of  a  man  comparatively  young 
but  known  as  an  efficient  pastor,  possessing  energy,  ability,  and  varied 
scholarship,  as  well  as  enthusiasm  in  the  cause  of  education. 

This  man,  Rev.  L.  H.  Blauton,  D.  D.,  was  selected  in  1880  as  Dr. 
Breck's  successor  in  the  chancellorship  of  the  university,  and  with  his 
accession  to  office  in  the  summer  of  that  year  a  new  era  dawned 
upon  the  institution.  Dr.  Blanton,  being  a  man  of  great  executive 
ability,  with  an  intuitive  knowledge  of  men,  and  broad  and  liberal 
views  of  college  administration,  besides  being  prudent  in  financial  mat- 
ters and  practical  in  his  business  plans,  has  built  wisely  upon  the 
foundations  laid  by  Dr.  Breck.  His  energy  and  hopefulness  soon  so 
dispelled  the  atmosphere  of  doubt  and  discouragement  hanging  over 
the  institution  that  men  of  liberal  means  began  to  pour  their  contribu- 
tions into  its  endowment  fund  and  in  a  short  time  its  prominence  and 

1  Green's  Historic  Families  of  Kentucky,  p.  214. 


CENTRAL    UNIVERSITY.  199 

future  prosperity  were  completely  assured.  All  of  his  efforts  to  advance 
the  interests  of  the  university  were  ably  assisted  by  Eev.  J.  V.  Logan, 
D.  D.,  who  had  formerly  been  the  synod's  professor  of  ethics  in  its 
faculty,  but  had  been  elected  to  the  presidency  of  its  college  of  philoso- 
phy, letters,  and  science  at  the  time  of  Dr.  Blanton's  accession  to  its 
chancellorship.  These  officers  have  since  retained  their  respective 
positions  and  have  efficiently  cooperated  in  the  successful  management 
of  the  institution  in  whose  foundation  they  had  both  taken  an  active 
interest. 

During  the  first  year  of  the  new  administration  the  number  of  stu- 
dents considerably  increased  and  about  $40,000  was  added  to  the 
endowment;  during  the  second  year  the  new  endowment  fund,  which 
synod  proposed  to  make  $100,000,  was  raised  to  half  that  amount, 
while  the  matriculation  was  enlarged  from  109,  in  the  preceding  year, 
to  149.  The  history  of  the  institution  has  since  been  one  of  improve- 
ment and  enlargement  in  many  directions. 

Although  the  completion  of  the  endowment  proposed  by  synod 
had  to  be  suspended  in  1883,  on  account  of  the  general  financial  strin- 
gency, the  movement  has  since  continued  and  much  more  than  the 
amount  then  had  in  view  has  been  obtained.  In  the  early  part  of  1886, 
within  sixty  days,  contributions  aggregating  about  $100,000  were  made 
by  a  few  generous  friends  of  the  institution  in  Kentucky,  while  in  1890 
$30,000  more  was  received,  and  in  1895  $10,000.  These  gifts,  together 
with  the  additions  that  had  been  made  to  its  general  equipment,  made 
the  total  value  of  the  property  and  funds  of  the  university  in  April, 
1896,  approximate  $325,000.  As  will  be  noticed  elsewhere,  recent 
enlargements  of  the  equipment  have  since  taken  place.  A  new  plan  of 
endowment  has  also  recently  been  adopted,  as  a  beginning  of  which  one 
subscription  of  $8,500  has  already  been  made. 

Among  the  larger  contributors  to  the  different  funds  of  the  univer- 
sity since  1880  have  been  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  P.Walters,  $30,000;  Hon. 
H.W.McBrayer,  $30,000;  Mr.  Orville  Ford,  $20,000;  Hon.  D.  0.  Col- 
lins, $12,000;  Mr.  A.  J.  Alexander,  $30,000;  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Kinkead, 
$10,000;  Mrs.  John  McClintock,  $5,000;  Mrs.  Mary  J.  Lyons,  $5,000; 
Col.  Bennett  H.  Young,  $10,000;  Mr.  William  T.  Grant,  $10,000,  and 
Hon.  W.  N.  Haldeman,  $10,000.  The  Walters  professorship  of  applied 
mathematics,  the  McBrayer  professorship  of  the  Bible  and  Christian 
evidences,  the  Ford  professorship  of  English  and  modern  languages, 
the  Alexander  professorship  of  philosophy,  the  Mary  E.  Kinkead 
memorial,  the  McClintock  memorial,  and  the  Lyons  lectureship  have 
been  named  in  honor  of  those  who  mainly  or  wholly  endowed  them. 

The  different  contributions  which  have  been  mentioned  have  mainly 
become  part  of  the  productive  endowment,  but  from  this  and  other 
sources  during  this  period  material  additions  have  been  made  both  to 
the  buildings  and  educational  apparatus  of  the  university.  A  plan 
was  inaugurated  in  connection  with  the  celebration  of  the  centennial1 


This  centennial  was  celebrated  at  Harrodsburg  in  October,  1883. 


200  HISTORY   OP   HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

of  the  establishment  of  Presbyterianism  in  Kentucky  by  the  synod  of 
the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church,  in  accordance  with  which  the  ladies 
of  that  church  in  the  State  raised  a  fund  from  which  was  constructed 
on  the  university  campus,  as  a  fitting  memorial  of  that  event,  Memo- 
rial Hall.  This  building,  which  will  furnish  accommodations  for  over 
50  young  men,  and  cost,  with  its  furniture,  $20,000,  was  completed  in 
September,  1883,  and  is  intended  to  furnish  to  deserving  students  a 
comfortable  college  home  at  a  very  moderate  cost.  In  that  year  also 
the  institution  received  by  bequest  a  valuable  contribution  to  its  equip- 
ment in  the  form  of  the  library  of  the  late  Rev.  E.  W.  Landis,  D.  D., 
of  Danville,  Ky.,  which  contained  about  3,000  volumes.  In  1890  a 
handsome  new  building  was  erected  for  the  preparatory  department, 
in  connection  with  which  a  hall  was  equipped  with  the  best  modern 
gymnastic  apparatus.  In  1892  the  complement  of  apparatus  in  physics 
and  chemistry  was  materially  increased,  and  in  1898  Mr.  C.  O.  Cooper, 
of  Dayton,  Ky.,  presented  to  the  university  museum  a  valuable  collec- 
tion of  typical  fossils.  The  previous  means  provided  for  physical 
training  had  not  proven  sufficient  to  meet  the  enlarged  needs  of  the 
institution,  and  during  the  present  summer,  through  the  liberality  of 
two  generous  ladies  of  Richmond,  a  fine  new  gymnasium  is  being  con- 
structed, which  will  furnish  splendid  facilities  in  that  line  for  some 
time  to  come. 

With  the  growth  of  its  endowment  and  equipment  a  similar  expan- 
sion has  taken  place  in  the  scope  and  character  of  the  work  done  by 
the  institution,  new  departments  and  new  courses  of  instruction  hav- 
ing been  added  from  time  to  time,  and  so  its  position  as  a  true  univer- 
sity more  fully  attained.  In  1887  a  college  of  dentistry  was  estab- 
lished in  Louisville  as  a  new  department,  and  in  1891  a  provisional 
class  in  theology  was  instituted,  and  the  collection  of  an  endowment 
begun  looking  toward  the  opening  of  a  college  of  theology.  This  latter 
department  will  not,  however,  now  probably  be  added  to  the  university, 
as  its  need  was  supplied  by  the  establishment  of  Louisville  Presby- 
terian Theological  Seminary  in  1893,  in  the  foundation  of  which  the 
officers  and  friends  of  the  university  took  a  prominent  part.  Between 
1891  and  1896  three  new  preparatory  schools  were  attached  to  the 
institution  in  different  parts  of  the  State,  and  in  1897  a  new  college  of 
law  was  opened  in  Richmond.  These,  as  well  as  the  college  of  den- 
tistry, will  be  noticed  later,  as  we  shall  confine  our  attention  for  the 
present  to  improvements  which  have  been  made  in  the  curriculum  of 
the  college  of  philosophy,  letters,  and  science. 

The  previous  additions  to  the  endowment  allowed  two  new  members 
to  be  added  to  the  faculty  in  1882,  when  a  beginning  was  made  in 
raising  the  standard  of  scholarship,  which  has  gone  on  until  it  has 
reached  the  level  of  that  of  the  older  institutions  of  the  State.  In 
1884  the  scientific  course  was  strengthened  and  brought  up  to  a  level 
with  the- classical  course  by  having  all  the  departments  of  instruction 


CENTRAL   UNIVERSITY.  201 

added  to  the  former,  except  Latin  and  Greek,  while  part  of  the  depart- 
ment of  natural  science  was  made  optional  in  the  latter.  In  1886 
large  contributions  to  the  endowment  enabled  the  faculty  to  widen  the 
curriculum  and  introduce  a  system  of  partial  electives  into  the  junior 
and  senior  classes,  which  enabled  the  student  to  shape  his  course  more 
in  accordance  with  his  special  needs  and  tastes.  The  increase  of  the 
endowment  having  continued,  new  departments  of  instruction  were 
instituted  and  two  new  members  added  to  the  faculty,  one  in  1891  and 
another  in  1892,  the  department  of  natural  science  having  been  pre- 
viously subdivided  and  its  work  more  specialized,  while  in  1891  a  new 
course  leading  to  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  letters  was  established. 
It  substitutes  modern  languages,  English,  and  history  for  the  Greek 
and  part  of  the  mathematics  and  science  of  the  bachelor  of  arts 
course.  This  gives  the  institution  three  regular  degree  courses,1  in  each 
of  which  the  master's  degree  may  be  obtained  by  an  additional  year  of 
regular  study  at  the  university  and  the  preparation  of  an  acceptable 
thesis  in  some  special  field  of  research. 

In  1893  a  new  department  of  military  science  and  tactics,  regarded, 
aside  from  the  useful  information  it  imparts,  as  a  valuable  auxiliary  to 
physical  development  and  to  discipline,  completed  the  present  curricu- 
lum, which  is  composed  of  the  departments  of  Latin,  Greek,  mathe- 
matics, physics  and  astronomy,  English  language  and  literature,  mod- 
ern languages,  philosophy,  history  and  political  science,  chemistry, 
biology  and  geology,  commercial  science,  the  Bible  and  Christian  evi- 
dences, and  military  science  and  tactics.  The  preparatory  department 
attached  to  the  college  has  a  course  of  four  years,  especially  designed 
to  fit  students  for  one  of  the  college  courses. 

The  annual  matriculation  of  the  university  has  kept  pace  well  with 
its  progress  in  other  respects.  The  number  of  students  in  attendance 
upon  the  college  of  philosophy  uniformly  increased  until  217  were  mem- 
bers of  its  various  classes  in  1891-92.  The  average  matriculation  for 
the  past  six  years  in  this  department  has  approximated  200,  as  many 
as  nine  states  having  recently  been  represented  at  one  time,  and  has 
not  been  reduced  as  much  as  that  of  several  other  institutions  of  simi- 
lar grade  in  the  State.  The  matriculation  of  all  the  departments  of 
the  university  as  a  whole  has  steadily  risen  during  this  period,  reach- 
ing a  total  of  807  in  1895-96,  of  859  in  1896-97,  and  of  978  in  1897-98. 

The  proportion  of  students  in  the  higher  classes  of  the  college  of 
philosophy  has,  in  late  years,  been  very  materially  increased  and  the 
size  of  the  graduating  classes  in  that  department  has  accordingly 
enlarged.  From  6  to  15  graduates  have  been  sent  out  by  the  college 
every  year  since  1880,  until  in  1897-98  the  graduating  class  numbered 
25  regular  degree  students,  the  largest  in  the  history  of  the  institution. 

1  Diplomas  are  conferred  in  each  department,  the  requisite  number  of  these  lead- 
ing to  a  degree.  Special  students  are  also  allowed  to  take  courses  for  which  they 
have  the  proper  preparation. 


202  HISTORY   OF   HIGHER   EDUCATION  IN   KENTUCKY. 

There  have  been  altogether  in  the  different  degree  courses  of  the  col- 
lege 224  graduates,  of  whom  134  have  taken  the  degree  of  A.  B.,  69 
that  of  B.  S.,  and  21  that  of  B.  L.  Many  of  these  have  entered  the 
different  learned  professions,  especially  the  ministry  and  teaching,  and 
in  the  comparatively  short  period  since  the  foundation  of  the  institu- 
tion have  won  an  honorable  position  in  their  chosen  fields  of  labor. 

The  board  of  curators  in  i89G,  in  accordance  with  the  ideas  now 
largely  prevailing  in  Kentucky,  opened  the  privileges  of  the  institution 
to  young  ladies  from  Madison  County,1  about  12  of  whom  were  in 
attendance  in  1896-97  and  about  15  in  1897-98.  On  March  10,  1898, 
having  deemed  the  experiment  a  success,  the  board,  by  resolution, 
threw  the  doors  of  the  college  fully  open  to  young  women  upon  the 
same  terms  as  to  young  men,  thus  making  the  institution  fully 
coeducational. 

The  following  constitute  the  corps  of  administration  and  instruction 
in  the  college  of  philosophy,  letters,  and  science,  an  assistant  in  each 
of  the  departments  of  elocution,  the  classics,  chemistry,  history,  and 
mathematics  not  being  enumerated:  L.  H.  Blanton,  D.  D.,  chancellor; 
J.  V.  Logan,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  president,  synod's  professor  of  ethics  and 
evidences,  and  professor  of  psychology  and  logic;  L.  G.  Barbour,  D.  D., 
LL.  D.,  professor  of  history  and  Bible ;  J.  T.  Akers,  Ph.  D.,  Ford  pro- 
fessor of  English  language  and  literature,  and  professor  of  modern 
languages;  C.  G.  Crooks,  M.  A.,  Walters  professor  of  mathematics; 
Robert  M.  Parks,  Ph.  D.,  professor  of  chemistry;  A.  Wilkes  Smith, 
D.  D.  S.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  physiology;  Gordon  Paxton,  M.  A.,  pro- 
fessor of  Latin;  Lieut.  S.  P.  Vestal,  U.  S.  A.,  professor  of  military 
science  and  tactics;  Edwin  L.  Green,  Ph.  D.,  professor  of  Greek;  J.  H. 
Chandler,  B.  L.,  adjunct  professor  of  English. 

OOLLEGE   OF  LAW. 

As  already  noted,  this  new  department,  or  rather  an  old  department 
revived,  was  attached  to  the  university  in  1897.  It  is  located  in  Rich- 
mond and  is  operated  in  conjunction  with  the  college  of  philosophy, 
letters,  and  science,  to  whose  classes  its  matriculates  have  access  with- 
out additional  expense.  The  college  was  opened  on  October  1,  1897, 
and  had  12  students  during  its  first  year.  It  has  an  able  faculty  of 
three  members,  with  William  Chenault,  LL.  D.,  as  its  executive  head. 
Professor  Chenault  was  for  a  number  of  years  a  professor  in  the  law 
department  of  the  University  of  Louisville,  as  well  as  dean  of  the 
institution,  and  is  known  as  one  of  the  leading  teachers  of  law  in  the 
South  and  West. 

The  methods  of  instruction  in  the  college  are  by  recitation,  lecture, 
and  case  study,  combined  with  frequent  quizzes  and  reviews  in  the 
different  studies  of  the  course,  the  whole  being  illustrated  and 
enforced  by  a  moot  court,  which  meets  regularly.  It  is  aimed  to  give 

1  The  county  in  which  Richmond  is  situated. 


CENTRAL   UNIVERSITY.  203 

the  student  both  a  theoretical  and  practical  knowledge  of  the  law  and 
to  fit  him  directly  for  practice.  The  course  of  instruction  extends  over 
two  years  and  embraces  all  the  subjects  usually  pursued  in  the  best 
law  schools  of  the  country.  It  leads  to  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  laws. 
A  number  of  lectures  upon  special  topics  are  given,  in  addition  to  the 
regular  course,  by  distinguished  members  of  the  Kentucky  bar.  The 
following  constitute  the  regular  members  of  the  present  faculty:  Wil- 
liam Chenault,  LL.  D.,  president,  professor  of  elementary  law,  pleading, 
commercial  law,  real  property,  and  criminal  law;  J.  Y.  Logan,  LL.  D., 
professor  of  political  science  and  civics;  R.  W.  Miller,  A.  B.,  LL.  B., 
professor  of  contracts,  torts,  evidence,  equity  and  corporations. 

UNIVERSITY  HIGH   SCHOOLS. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  features  in  the  history  of  the  development 
of  the  university  during  the  past  seven  years  has  been  the  establish- 
ment, in  conjunction  with  it,  of  three  new  high  schools  in  different  por- 
tions of  the  State,  which  have  proven  important  auxiliaries  to  its  work. 
Its  charter,  as  before  mentioned,  provides  for  the  foundation  of  six  such 
schools,  but  only  one,  the  preparatory  school  at  Richmond,  instituted 
at  the  opening  of  the  university,  had  been  established  up  to  1891.  In 
that  year  a  second  one,  known  as  Jackson  Collegiate  Institute,  was 
opened  at  Jackson,  while  in  1892  a  third,  named  Hardin  Collegiate 
Institute,  was  established  at  Elizabeth  town,  and  in  1896  a  fourth, 
called  Middlesboro  University  School,  at  Middlesboro. 

These  schools  are  not  intended  merely  as  preparatory  schools  to  the 
university,  but  are  also  to  furnish  a  good  well  rounded  English  educa- 
tion to  such  as  can  pursue  their  education  no  further,  and  especially  to 
furnish  well-trained  teachers  for  the  public  schools  of  the  State.  So, 
in  addition  to  a  regular  high- school  course  of  four  years  extending  to 
the  junior  year  of  the  college  of  philosophy  of  the  university,  they  each 
have  special  commercial  and  normal  courses  and  the  usual  ornamental 
departments.  The  schools  at  Jackson  and  Middlesboro  especially  are 
so  situated  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State  as  to  be  able  to  perform 
an  important  public  service  in  furnishing  teachers  for  a  section  hitherto 
much  neglected  educationally,  a  work  upon  which  the  older  of  these 
schools  particularly  has  already  entered  with  great  success. 

The  worth  of  this  institution  was  especially  recognized  in  1897  by 
the  liberal  gift,  in  addition  to  her  previous  annual  contribution  to  its 
support,  of  $5,000  by  Mrs.  S.  P.  Lees,  of  New  York  City,  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  for  a  new  building,  while  Mrs.  N.  F.  McCormick,  of  Chicago, 
111.,  generously  added  $5,000  to  establish  a  department  of  manual  train- 
ing. Both  donations  were  made  on  the  condition  of  an  equal  amount 
for  the  same  purpose  being  raised  within  the  State,  which  was  done,  and 
a  splendid  new  building,  with  an  excellent  equipment  for  manual  train- 
ing, was  opened  in  September,  1897.  In  honor  of  these  donations  the 
school  has  since  been  called  the  S.  P.  Lees  Collegiate  Institute,  and  the 


204  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

department  of  manual  training  the  IS".  F.  McCorinick  School  of  Manual 
Training.  Hardin  Collegiate  Institute  and  Middlesboro  University 
School  also  have  excellent  buildings  and  general  equipment,  all  three 
of  the  schools  having  dormitories  for  students.  All  are  also  coeduca- 
tional. The  S.  P.  Lees  Collegiate  Institute  has  had  since  its  foundation 
an  annual  average  matriculation  of  about  200  students.  Its  present 
faculty  contains  8  teachers.  The  corresponding  figures  for  Hardin  Col- 
legiate Institute  are  60  and  5,  and  for  Middlesboro  University  School 
75  and  5.  Their  respective  principals  are  J.  M.  Moore,  A.  M.  5  Eice  Mil- 
ler, A.  B.,  and  James  E.  Sterrett,  B.  S. 

THE   MEDICAL    DEPARTMENT    OF   THE    UNIVERSITY — THE    HOSPITAL 
COLLEGE   OP  MEDICINE — LOUISVILLE. 

We  have  seen  that  this  department  of  the  university  was  opened  in 
Louisville  in  the  same  year  the  college  of  philosophy  was  organized  in 
Eichmond.  The  medical  department  was  from  the  first  located  at  its 
present  situation,  on  Chestnut  street,  opposite  the  city  hospital,  and 
was  called  the  Hospital  College  of  Medicine.  The  preliminary  session 
of  the  institution  was  opened  on  September  7, 1874,  and  its  first  faculty 
was  composed  of  the  following  regular  professors,  besides  whom  there 
were  five  assistants  and  demonstrators:  E.  D.  Force,  LL.  D.,  M.  D.; 
Frank  C.  Wilson,  A.  B.,  M.  D.;  William  H.  Boiling,  M.  D.;  John  T. 
Williams,  A.  M.,  M.  D.;  James  M.  Holloway,  A.  M.,  M.  13.;  William 
Bailey,  A.  M.,  M.  D. ;  John  J.  Speed,  A.  M.,  M.  D.;  John  A.  Larrabee, 
M.  D.,  and  Dudley  S.  Eeynolds,  A.  M.,  M.  D.  Dr.  Foree  was  president 
of  the  faculty  and  Dr.  Boiling  its  dean. 

The  building  provided  for  the  institution  at  its  opening  was  quite  a 
comfortable  and  convenient  one,  while  the  course  of  instruction  was  the 
two  years'  course  then  usual  in  medical  colleges.  A  modern  tone  was, 
however,  given  to  this  course  at  the  end  of  the  first  session  by  the 
abandonment  of  the  time-honored  thesis  as  a  requisite  for  graduation 
and  the  substitution  of  written  examinations,  in  which  a  high  general 
average  was  required.  The  beginnings  of  a  fine  museum  collection 
were  at  once  laid,  and  clinical  exercises  and  laboratory  instruction  were 
from  the  first  made  a  prominent  part  of  the  regular  curriculum. 

One  hundred  and  three  students,  representing  22  States  of  the  Union 
and  2  foreign  countries,  many  of  whom  were  advanced  students  from 
other  institutions,  were  in  attendance  the  first  session,  and  at  its  close 
the  degree  of  M.  D.  was  conferred  upon  57  of  these.  The  classes  of 
the  institution  throughout  its  history  until  the  last  few  years  have 
been  comparatively  small,  varying  in  number  from  49  to  153  up  to  1894r 
but  they  have  for  the  most  part  been  composed  of  young  men  of  good 
preliminary  education,  and  the  college,  by  reason  of  its  requirements, 
has  taken  and  maintained  a  high  rank  among  similar  institutions,  in 
the  South  and  West  particularly. 

Its  methods  have  been  progressive  in  every  way.    Since  1879  espe- 


CENTRAL  UNIVERSITY.     THE   HOSPITAL  COLLEGE   OF  MEDICINE,   LOUISVILLE. 


CENTRAL    UNIVERSITY.  205 

cially  a  strict  compliance  with  its  graduation  requirements  of  the  com- 
pletion of  a  two  years'  lecture  course  of  similar  scope  to  its  own,  with 
one  year's  preliminary  study,  has  been  enforced  by  it,  and  since  then 
it  has  been  among  the  foremost  medical  schools  of  the  South  in  raising 
its  standard.  Under  the  old  system  of  appointments  to  positions  on 
the  resident  staff  of  the  city  hospital  of  Louisville  by  competitive 
examination,  the  institution  from  the  very  first  held  its  own — in  fact, 
more  than  did  so — in  competition  with  the  older  medical  colleges  of  the 
city,  often  holding  all  four  of  the  appointments  then  offered  by  the 
hospital. 

The  equipment  of  the  institution  has  always  been  kept  up  with  the 
demands  of  modern  medical  education.  In  1878  the  McClure  cabinet 
of  rare  and  valuable  specimens  was  purchased  for  it  and  added  to  its 
museum,  which  was  thus  made  quite  ample.  Its  cabinet  of  materia 
medica  was  at  that  time  also  quite  complete,  and  its  dissecting  room  was 
early  made  one  of  the  finest  in  the  West.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
session  of  1881-82  a  laboratory  for  the  study  of  general  pathology  and 
hygiene  was  equipped,  and  a  laboratory  for  investigation  in  bacte- 
riology was  also  inaugurated  as  a  part  of  the  regular  curriculum,  the 
latter  being  presided  over  by  the  professor  of  pathology  and  hygiene, 
assisted  by  competent  demonstrators. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  session  of  1881-82  it  was  considered,  for 
various  reasons,  more  desirable  to  have  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
annual  session  in  the  spring  and  summer  and,  accordingly,  the  next 
session  was  opened  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  year,  a  practice  which 
has  since  been  retained,  the  sessions  beginning  on  January  1  of  each 
year.  After  this  change  a  fall  polyclinical  course  for  advanced  students 
and  practitioners  of  medicine  was  maintained  for  a  number  of  years, 
but  has  lately  been  discontinued. 

For  the  session  of  1887  a  standard  preliminary  educational  qualifica- 
tion, embracing  the  branches  of  a  good  English  education  was  exacted 
of  all  matriculants.  While  this  had  the  effect  of  keeping  the  attend- 
ance comparatively  small  for  a  considerable  time,  it  finally  resulted  in 
the  gradual  increase  in  numbers  of  students  possessed  of  all  the  neces- 
sary educational  training  to  fit  them  for  an  intelligent  comprehension  of 
the  technology  of  medicine. 

The  college  has  shared  in  all  the  organized  movements  of  the  profes- 
sion to  advance  the  standard  of  medical  education  throughout  the 
country.  It  took  part  in  the  convention  of  medical  colleges  in  Phila- 
delphia in  187G,  and  was  active  in  its  interest  in  the  organization  of 
the  Association  of  American  Medical  Colleges  in  Chicago  in  1877.  It 
was  represented  at  the  revival  of  that  association  in  Nashville  in  1890 
and  at  its  full  reorganization  in  Washington  in  1891.  At  both  of  these 
last  two  conventions  it  earnestly  supported  the  establishment  in  all  the 
institutions  of  the  country  of  a  graded  course  of  instruction  extending 
through  three  annual  sessions  of  not  less  than  six  months  each  as  a 


206  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

requirement  for  graduation.  As  an  evidence  of  its  own  position  in 
this  matter,  the  Hospital  College  in  1890  inaugurated  such  a  course, 
with  full  requirements  for  its  session  of  1891,  being  the  first  medical 
college  in  the  South  to  do  so,  its  preliminary  educational  requirements 
being  at  the  same  time  also  advanced.  The  institution  has  since  taken 
a  prominent  part  in  the  councils  of  the  Association  and  has  conformed 
fully  to  the  latter's  advanced  requirements  in  all  respects,  instituting 
in  1895,  for  new  students  entering  at  that  time,  the  standard  course  of 
four  annual  sessions,  which  must  include  at  least  two  sessions  in  dis- 
section and  in  chemical  instruction,  and  at  least  one  course  of  instruc- 
tion in  the  laboratories  of  chemistry,  histology,  pathology,  bacteriology, 
and  surgery. 

The  equipment  of  the  college,  both  in  the  way  of  buildings  and 
apparatus  of  all  kinds,  has  also  been  kept  up  to  the  demands  of  the  times. 
In  1886,  in  order  to  meet  enlarged  needs  and  to  make  more  elaborate 
arrangements  for  laboratory  and  clinical  instruction,  new  buildings 
were  erected  and  the  conveniences  of  the  institution  greatly  amplified. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  quarters  were  prepared  for  the  new  College  of 
Dentistry,  which  was  inaugurated  in  conjunction  with  the  Hospital 
College  in  January,  1887.  The  accommodations  then  prepared  were, 
however,  soon  insufficient  for  the  two  institutions,  and  so,  in  1893,  a  fine 
new  modern  four-story  brick  and  stone  building  was  constructed  for 
them,  which  was  formally  opened  on  January  2, 1894.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  complete  and  ample  of  its  kind  in  the  country  and  furnished 
enlarged  facilities  in  every  way  for  the  medical  college,  having  com- 
modious laboratories  of  histology,  microscopy,  and  practical  surgery,  in 
addition  to  those  already  possessed  by  the  institution,  besides  affording 
excellent  quarters  for  lecture  and  recitation  rooms,  as  well  as  for  the 
library  and  museum.  It  also  offered  greater  opportunities  for  clinical 
instruction,  as  the  dispensary  connected  with  the  college  was  at  that 
time  greatly  enlarged  and  its  service  more  thoroughly  systematized. 

In  1896,  in  order  to  farther  increase  the  facilities  for  clinical  instruc- 
tion and  to  furnish  students  hospital  experience  and  training,  a  fine 
new  hospital,  a  three-story  brick  and  stone  structure  of  handsome 
design,  known  as  the  Gray  Street  Infirmary,  was  erected,  adjoining  the 
college.  It  was  opened  January  1, 1897,  and  contains  four  wards,  two 
for  white  and  two  for  colored  patients,  male  and  female,  with  numerous 
private  rooms  for  special  and  surgical  cases,  and  is  built  after  the  most 
approved  methods  of  hospital  construction,  with  all  the  modern 
appointments.  With  all  its  appliances  it  furnishes  clinical  advantages 
probably  unsurpassed  by  any  similar  institution  in  this  country. 

The  annual  matriculation  of  the  college  has  largely  increased  in 
recent  years  and  is  now  among  the  largest  in  the  South,  its  average 
for  the  past  four  years  having  been  considerably  over  200  regular  stu- 
dents, besides  a  number  of  others  taking  special  courses.  About  30  per 
cent  of  its  students  come  from  the  States  of  Kentucky,  Indiana,  Illinois, 


CENTRAL   UNIVERSITY.  207 

and  Tennessee.  The  remainder  are  from  the  South  and  West,  largely, 
although  there  are  a  great  many  from  the  Eastern  States  and  some  from 
foreign  countries.  Several  times  in  recent  years  more  States  and  coun- 
tries have  been  represented  by  its  matriculates  than  at  its  opening.  Its 
graduating  classes  have  also  gradually  increased  in  size,  until  that  of 
1898  numbered  135,  the  largest  in  the  history  of  the  institution.  The 
total  number  of  graduates  to  1898,  inclusive,  is  996,  among  whom  are 
many  prominent  practitioners  in  all  branches  of  the  medical  profession 
in  different  parts  of  the  country. 

The  methods  of  instruction  in  the  institution  embrace  the  blending 
of  didactic  lectures,  laboratory  work,  quizzes,  dissections,  demonstra- 
tions, and  careful  clinical  teaching  by  the  professors  and  the  chiefs  of 
the  different  clinics.  The  present  curriculum  includes  the  departments 
of  anatomy,  physiology  and  hygiene,  materia  inedica  and  therapeutics, 
chemistry,  principles  and  practice  of  medicine,  surgery,  diseases  of  the 
chest,  obstetrics,  gynecology  and  abdominal  surgery,  diseases  of  chil- 
dren, ophthalmology  and  otology,  diseases  of  the  eye,  ear,  nose,  and 
throat,  diseases  of  the  skin,  genito-urinary  diseases,  and  medical  juris- 
prudence. 

The  following  are  the  present  regular  professors  of  the  college,  in 
addition  to  whom  its  faculty  contains  twenty-three  clinical  professors, 
lecturers,  and  demonstrators  in  the  various  departments:  John  A. 
Larrabee,  M.  D.,  president,  professor  of  obstetrics  and  diseases  of  chil- 
dren j  Dudley  S.  Reynolds,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  ophthalmology, 
otology,  and  medical  jurisprudence 5  Frank  O.  Wilson,  A.  B.,  M.  D., 
professor  of  diseases  of  the  chest  and  physical  diagnosis;  Samuel  G. 
Dabney,  M.  D.,  professor  of  physiology  and  hygiene;  Philip  F.  Barbour, 
A.  B.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  medical  chemistry  and  toxicology;  Thomas 
Hunt  Stucky,  M.  D.,  Ph.  D.,  professor  of  principles  and  practice  of 
medicine  and  clinical  medicine;  John  Edwin  Hays,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  pro- 
fessor of  anatomy  and  dermatology;  H.  Horace  Grant,  A.  M.,  M.  D.. 
professor  of  the  principles  and  practice  of  surgery  and  clinical  surgery; 
Lewis  S.  McMurtry,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  gynecology;  P.Richard 
Taylor,  M.  D.,  dean,  professor  of  materia  medica  and  therapeutics. 

The  following  have  been  the  executive  officers  of  the  institution  since 
its  foundation:  Presidents— E.  D.  Force,  LL.D.,M.D.,  1874-1882;  Wil- 
liam Bailey,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  1882-1885;  William  H.  Boiling,  M.  D.,  1885- 
1891;  Dudley  S.  Reynolds,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  1891-1893;  John  A.  Larrabee, 
M.  D.,  1893  to  present.  Deans— William  H.  Boiling,  M.  D.,  1874-1885; 
J.  Lewis  Howe,  Ph.  D.,  M.  D.,  F.  0.  S.,  1885-1894;  P.  Richard  Taylor, 
M.  D.,  1894  to  present. 

THE   DENTAL  DEPARTMENT   OF  THE   UNIVERSITY — LOUISVILLE 
COLLEGE   OF  DENTISTRY,  LOUISVILLE. 

The  establishment  of  this  department  of  Central  University  at  Louis- 
ville in  1887  has  already  been  mentioned.  The  new  college  was  organ- 
ized in  1886,  but,  holding  its  sessions  at  the  same  time  as  those  of  the 


208  HISTORY   OF   HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

Hospital  College  of  Medicine,  was  not  opened  until  January  20, 1887. 
It  occupied  the  building  erected  for  the  two  colleges  in  1886,  but  had 
entirely  separate  lecture  rooms,  laboratories,  halls,  and  infirmary  from 
the  medical  college,  as  it  has  since  had  in  the  later  building  of  1893. 
The  two  departments,  however,  to  the  advantage  of  both  professors 
and  students,  being  thus  contiguous,  are  operated  in  close  conjunction, 
several  members  of  their  faculties  being  identical,  and  the  students  of 
each  having  access  to  the  courses  of  the  other  without  additional 
expense,  and  being  able  to  take  an  extra  degree  in  one  after  complet- 
ing the  course  in  the  other,  with  the  saving  of  at  least  a  year's  time. 

The  original  faculty  of  the  College  of  Dentistry  was  composed  of  the 
following  regular  professors  in  addition  to  three  demonstrators:  A. 
Wilkes  Smith,  M.  D.,  D.  D.  S.,  professor  of  oral  and  dental  surgery  and 
operative  dentistry;  Charles  G.  Edwards,  D.  D.  S.,  professor  of  pros- 
thetic and  clinical  dentistry;  A.  M.  Cartledge,  M.  D.,  professor  of 
surgery;  Dudley  S.  Reynolds,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  pathology  and 
hygiene;  Frank  C.  Wilson,  A.  B.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  the  principles  and 
practice  of  medicine;  Samuel  G.  Dabney,  M.  D.,  professor  of  physiology 
and  histology;  John  A.  Larrabee,  M.  D.,  professor  of  materia  niedica 
and  therapeutics;  Cornelius  Skinner,  M.  D.,  professor  of  anatomy;  J. 
Lewis  Howe,  Ph.  D.,  M.  D.,  F.  C.  fc\,  professor  of  medical  chemistry 
and  toxicology. 

Dr.  Smith  was  the  president  of  this  faculty  and  Dr.  Howe  its  dean. 

The  course  of  instruction  originally  inaugurated  was  the  usual  two 
years'  lecture  course  for  sessions  of  five  months  then  in  vogue  through- 
out this  country.  Seventeen  students,  a  considerable  proportion  of 
whom  had  pursued  dental  studies  in  other  institutions,  were  in  attend- 
ance the  first  session,  and  at  its  close  the  degree  of  doctor  of  dentistry 
was  conferred  on  11  candidates.  The  matriculation  increased  to  22 
the  second  year,  45  the  third  year,  and  72  the  fourth  year,  while  there 
were  4  graduates  in  1888,  13  in  1889, 12  in  3890,  and  26  in  1891.  The 
students  had  up  to  this  time  represented  altogether  as  many  as  twenty 
States  of  the  Union  and  two  foreign  countries. 

The  college  has  always  taken  a  decided  stand  in  favor  of  the 
advancement  of  dental  education  throughout  the  country.  It  became 
at  the  end  of  its  first  session  a  member  of  the  National  Association  of 
Dental  Faculties,  and  has  since  continued  an  earnest  participant  in  the 
promotion  of  the  objects  of  that  organization.  In  1890,  in  conformity 
with  the  requirements  of  that  body,  it  advanced  its  standard  of  grad- 
uation so  as  to  require  the  completion  of  three  annual  sessions  of  not 
less  than  six  months  each,  in  two  of  which  dissection  must  have  been 
pursued.  A  preliminary  entrance  requirement  embracing  the  elements 
of  a  good  English  education  was  also  established. 

The  longer  period  required  for  graduation  and  the  general  financial 
distress  reduced  the  matriculation  somewhat  for  a  short  while  after 
1890,  but  the  attendance  soon  again  enlarged,  and  it  was  found  neces- 


CENTRAL    UNIVERSITY.  209 

sary,  in  conjunction  with  the  erection  of  the  new  building  for  the  med- 
ical college  in  1893,  to  prepare  new  accommodations  for  the  college  of 
dentistry.  The  additional  quarters  prepared  for  the  latter  in  the  new 
building,  opened  on  January  2,  1894,  were  second  to  none  of  any  simi- 
lar institution,  at  least  in  the  South  or  West,  in  size,  beauty,  and  con- 
venience, and  furnished  a  complete  modern  equipment  in  the  way  of 
didactic  and  clinical  lecture  amphitheaters,  chemical  and  dental  labora- 
tories, dissecting  rooms,  infirmary,  and  other  necessary  departments. 

The  growth  of  the  institution  was,  however,  so  rapid  that  additional 
accommodations  were  necessary,  and  in  1896  a  commodious  and  hand- 
some new  infirmary  and  hospital,  containing  a  spacious  clinical  amphi- 
theater and  provided  with  every  modern  convenience  for  operations 
in  both  general  and  oral  surgery,  was  erected  in  the  rear  of  the  main 
building.  The  attendance  of  the  session  of  1897  was  so  large  as  to 
even  task  the  capacity  of  the  new  buildings  at  once,  and  additional 
provision  had  to  be  made  in  the  way  of  operative  clinic  rooms  for  the 
session  of  1898. 

The  increase  in  matriculation  during  the  past  seven  years  has  been 
very  pronounced.  The  average  annual  attendance  during  that  time 
has  been  125,  and  in  1898  172  regular  students  were  in  attendance 
upon  the  various  classes  of  the  college.  As  in  the  case  of  the  medical 
college,  about  30  per  cent  of  the  matriculates  of  the  College  of  Den- 
tistry come  from  the  States  of  Kentucky,  Indiana,  Tennessee,  and  Illi- 
nois, but  the  remainder  represent  all  the  other  States  of  the  Union  and 
several  foreign  countries.  At  one  time  in  recent  years  as  many  as 
twenty  six  States  of  the  United  States  and  two  other  countries  have 
been  represented  by  its  students.  The  enlargement  of  the  graduating 
class  has  also  corresponded  well  with  that  of  the  general  student  body, 
the  number  of  graduates  having  increased  from  6  in  189-3  to  49  in 
1898.  The  total  number  of  alumni  to  1898  inclusive  is  259. 

The  aim  of  the  course  of  instruction  of  the  institution  is  to  thoroughly 
equip  the  student  with  that  knowledge,  both  theoretical  and  practical^ 
which  will  enable  him  to  practice  his  profession  with  eminent  success. 
To  this  end  he  is  required  not  only  to  pursue  those  studies  directly 
pertaining  to  dentistry,  but  other  collateral  branches,  especially  of 
medicine,  which  will  broaden  his  knowledge  and  furnish  him  a  better 
scientific  foundation.  He  takes  the  same  course  of  elementary  instruc- 
tion as  the  medical  student,  the  graded  course  in  anatomy,  physiology, 
chemistry,  materia  medica  and  therapeutics,  histology,  pathology,  and 
bacteriology,  and  in  the  principles  of  medicine,  surgery,  and  hygiene. 
The  close  conjunction  in  which  the  College  of  Dentistry  and  the 
Hospital  College  of  Medicine  are  operated  especially  facilitates  this 
broad  plan. 

In  the  dental  college,  as  in  the  medical,  the  scientific  and  practical 
go  hand  in  hand,  lectures  and  clinics  being  always  combined ;  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  course  pursued  is  also  exacted  by  frequent  quizzes  and 
2127— No.  25 14 


210  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

practical  tests  of  various  kinds.  The  course  of  instruction  in  the  col- 
lege of  dentistry,  besides  the  departments  already  mentioned,  includes 
those  of  operative  dentistry,  oral  surgery,  and  dental  pathology,  pros- 
thetic dentistry  and  crown  and  bridge  work,  orthodeutia,  technics  and 
anesthesia,  and  dental  jurisprudence. 

The  following  are  the  regular  professors  of  the  present  faculty,  which 
body  also  includes  thirteen  lecturers,  assistants,  and  clinical  instruct- 
ors: A.  Wilkes  Smith,  D.  D.  S.,  M.  D.,  emeritus  professor  of  oral  and 
dental  surgery;  Henry  Bryant  Tileston,  D.  D.  S.,  president,  professor  of 
operative  dentistry,  dental  materia  medica  and  therapeutics,  and  dental 
histology;  Edward  M.  Kettig.  M.  D.,  D.  D.  S.,  professor  of  oral  surgery 
and  dental  pathology;  Winfield  Scott  Smith,  D.  D.  S.,  professor  of 
prosthetic  dentistry,  crown  and  bridge  work;  William  Edward  Grant, 
D.  D.  S.,  professor  of  orthodontia,  technics,  and  anesthesia;  Samuel  Gr. 
Dabney,  M.  D.,  professor  of  physiology  and  hygiene;  John  Edwin 
Hayes,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  anatomy;  H.  Horace  Grant,  A.  M., 
M.  D.,  professor  of  surgery;  P.  Richard  Taylor,  M.  D.,  dean,  professor 
of  materia  medica  and  therapeutics;  Philip  F.  Barbour.  A.  B.,  M.  D., 
professor  of  chemistry  and  metallurgy. 

The  executive  officers  of  the  college  since  its  foundation  have  been 
as  follows:  Presidents,  A.  Wilkes  Smith,  M.  D.,  D.  D.  S.,  1887-1892. 
Francis  Peabody,  D.  D.  S.,  1892-1897.  H.  B.  Tileston,  D.  D.  S.,  1897  to 
present.  Deans:  J.  Lewis  Howe,  Ph.  D.,  M.  D.,  F.  C.  S.,  1887-1894. 
P.  Kichard  Taylor,  M.  D.,  1894  to  present. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Historic  Families  of  Kentucky,  by  Thomas  Marshall  Green,  Cincinnati,  1889. 
Collins's  and  Smith's  History,  Home  and  School  (Vol.  Ill),  Henderson's  Centen- 
nial Exhibit. 

CLINTON  COLLEGE,  CLINTON. 

Clinton  College  proposes  to  furnish  a  good,  substantial  education  for 
young  men  and  young  women  at  as  moderate  expense  as  possible. 
The  institution  is  Baptist  in  management,  being  conducted  under  the 
patronage  of  West  Union  Baptist  Association.  Its  original  establish- 
ment is  due  to  the  lack  of  facilities  for  higher  education  in  the  western 
part  of  Kentucky,  at  the  time  of  its  foundation,  when  good  schools 
were  few  and  the  public  school  system,  in  the  inefficient  form  in  which 
it  then  existed,  was  entirely  inadequate  to  the  educational  demands  of 
a  section  fast  becoming  thickly  populated. 

The  one  who  first  realized  most  sensibly  the  need  of  the  college  and 
first  agitated  the  question  of  its  establishment,  which  he  took  an  active 
part  in  bringing  about,  was  Kev.  Willis  White,  ordinarily  called  in  his 
portion  of  the  State,  Father  White,  who  may,  more  than  anyone  else, 
be  called  the  father  of  the  institution. 

Mr.  White  was  a  highly  respected  Baptist  clergyman,  who  had 
entered  the  ministry  of  his  church  in  western  Kentucky  in  1834  and 


CLINTON   COLLEGE.  211 

had  labored  in  that  capacity  many  years  with  great  acceptability. 
Just  subsequent  to  the  civil  war  he  became  county  superintendent  of 
public  schools  of  Hickman  County,  and  it  was  while  in  the  discharge 
of  the  duties  of  that  office  tbat  he  realized  more  fully  than  ever  how 
wholly  insufficient  were  the  schools  of  that  section  to  supply  the  needs 
of  its  people.  About  1871  he  began  to  agitate  the  subject  of  founding 
an  institution,  which  would  at  least  partially  meet  pressing  educational 
demands,  and  to  travel  and  solicit  funds  for  its  equipment. 

In  this  way  the  money  was  secured  for  the  erection  of  the  first  build- 
ing of  Clinton  Female  College,  which  was  begun  in  1873.  The  beauti- 
ful campus  of  8  acres  upon  which  this  building  is  located  was  donated 
to  the  institution  by  Mr.  Eobert  Moore.  The  funds  raised  by  Father 
White  were  not  large,  and  the  cost  of  the  first  building,  which  was  not 
completed  for  some  time  after  it  was  begun,  was  about  $7,000. 

As  its  original  name  implies,  the  school  was  at  first  exclusively  for 
young  ladies.  It  was  organized  under  the  general  corporation  laws  of 
the  State  and  is  controlled  by  a  board  of  seven  trustees,  each  of  whom 
is  required  to  be  a  member  in  good  and  regular  standing  of  some  Bap- 
tist church.  The  college  is  empowered  by  its  charter  to  confer  the 
usual  college  degrees,  but  has  chosen,  until  quite  recently,  to  grant 
diplomas,  but  not  regular  degrees.  Its  original  curriculum  embraced 
all  grades  of  instruction  from  primary  to  collegiate,  the  latter  being 
intended  at  first  to  give  only  a  good  English  education.  The  classics 
and  other  departments  were  soon  added,  so  that  its  course  was  before 
long  quite  equal  to  that  of  many  other  institutions  in  the  State,  which 
grant  regular  collegiate  degrees.  Its  curriculum  was  early  divided 
into  classical  and  scientific  courses. 

The  school  was  first  opened  in  September,  1874,  before  its  own  build- 
ing was  ready  for  occupancy,  and  was  conducted  for  a  time  in  the  Bap- 
tist Church1  in  Clinton.  It  had  only  15  pupils  at  the  beginning.  Its 
original  faculty  was  Prof.  T.  N".  Wells  and  Miss  Amanda  M.  Hicks. 
Some  assistance  was  given  in  the  teaching  of  the  first  session  by  the 
wife  and  daughter  of  Professor  Wells.  The  institution  soon  occupied 
its  own  building,  although  still  somewhat  incomplete,  and  before  the  end 
of  the  year  had  an  enrollment  of  45  students.  The  attendance  had 
increased  to  60  matriculates  in  1875-76,  when  there  were  three  regular 
teachers  and  the  properly  of  the  college  was  estimated  to  be  worth 
$15,000,  while  its  equipment  of  scientific  apparatus  was  good. 

In  the  autumn  of  1876  young  men  were  for  the  first  time  admitted  as 
students,  and  the  institution  has  since  remained  fully  coeducational, 
having  dropped  the  word  female  from  its  name.  In  1879  a  course  espe- 
cially designed  for  teachers  and  also  one  in  commercial  science  were 
added  to  the  previous  curriculum  and  the  enrollment  for  the  year  rose 

1  This  is  according  to  the  catalogue  of  1894-95.  The  sketch  by  Rev.  Mr.  Bailey 
says  it  was  opened  in  its  own  unfinished  building  and  that  by  Miss  Hicks  says  its 
building  was  complete  at  the  opening. 


212  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

to  150.  Professor  Wells  continued  as  president  of  the  college  for  six 
years,  during  which  the  institution  sent  out  12  graduates,  5  in  the 
scientific  and  7  in  the  classical  course,  the  first  class,  tbat  of  1878,  having 
been  composed  of  two  graduates  in  the  scientific  course. 

Upon  the  resignation  of  Professor  Wells,  in  1880,  he  was  succeeded 
in  the  presidency  of  the  college  by  Miss  Hicks,  who  had  been  connected 
with  the  institution  from  its  inception.  She  held  the  position  for  four- 
teen years,  and  is  the  one  who  largely  built  up  the  college  to  what  it  is 
to-day.  Her  success  is  conceded  by  all  to  be  due  to  her  own  strong  and 
forceful  personality,  as  she  had  to  struggle  heroically  against  the  lack 
of  endowment  and  against  prejudice.  The  school,  under  her  able  man- 
agement, gradually  expanded  in  its  equipment,  faculty,  and  courses, 
as  well  as  in  the  number  of  its  students,  until  it  soon  began  to  compare 
favorably  with  other  institutions  of  higher  education  in  the  State. 

Miss  Hicks  was  a  graduate  of  the  Oswego  (N.  Y.)  Normal  School 
and  a  teacher  of  fine  talents.  The  faculty  she  gathered  about  her  were 
also  well  trained  and  efficient  instructors.  In  1881-82  there  were  6 
teachers  and  an  attendance  of  200  students,  which  is  perhaps  the 
largest  matriculation  the  college  has  ever  had,  but  a  much  larger  pro- 
portion of  its  students  have  in  recent  years  been  members  of  its  higher 
classes.  The  work  had  so  outgrown  itself  in  1883  that  an  addition  had 
to  be  made  to  the  main  building. 

The  American  Baptist  Educational  Society  cooperated  with  Miss 
Hicks  in  her  work,  and  about  1889  appointed  an  agent  to  endeavor  to 
secure  an  endowment  for  the  college.  Not  much  success  seems  to  have 
been  obtained  for  this  laudable  purpose,  but  enough  means  were  real- 
ized to  complete  in  1890  a  boarding  cottage- with  accommodations  for 
40  young  ladies,  while  an  additional  member  had  been  added  to  the 
faculty.  Upon  the  completion  of  the  young  ladies'  boarding  cottage 
Miss  S.  A.  Fairfield  became  associated  with  Miss  Hicks  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  institution,  and  so  remained  until  the  end  of  the  latter's 
administration. 

Deacon  Joseph  Cook,  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  who  had  given  $5,000  for 
the  building  of  the  boarding  cottage  and  who  died  in  the  winter  of  1891, 
was  induced,  through  Miss  Hicks's  influence  and  that  of  a  lifelong 
friend  of  hers  living  in  Cambridge,  to  bequeath  to  the  college  a  sum 
amounting  to  between  $25,000  and  $35,000,  the  larger  portion  of  which 
has  been  paid  over  to  the  institution  and  is  now  invested  as  a  perma- 
nent endowment.  In  1892  the  college  received  a  considerable  collec- 
tion of  valuable  books  from  the  library  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Leonard,  a 
Baptist  minister  of  Ohio,  lately  deceased. 

In  May,  1894,  Miss  Hicks  found  it  necessary  for  personal  reasons  to 
sever  her  connection  with  the  institution  to  which  in  different  capaci- 
ties she  had  devoted  twenty  years  of  self- sacrificing  labor.  Besides  the 
additions  to  its  equipment  and  the  foundation  of  its  endowment  which 
have  been  mentioned,  she  had  accumulated  for  it  a  library  of  1,200  vol- 


CLINTON    COLLEGE.  213 

umes,  and,  above  all,  bad  established  for  it  a  high  standard  of  scholar- 
ship and  imparted  to  it  throughout  a  high  moral  tone.  The  graduating 
class  at  times  during  the  last  years  of  her  administration  contained  as 
many  as  12  members,  and  the  total  number  of  graduates  for  the  period 
was  about  50. 

Upon  Miss  Hicks's  retirement  Eev.  E.  K.  Chandler,  D.  D.,  of  Ehode 
Island,  who  had  been  for  twenty  years  the  pastor  of  various  Baptist 
churches  in  the  East — the  last  seven  years  of  the  time  at  Cambridge, 
Mass. — was  elected  as  her  successor  in  the  presidency  of  the  college. 
At  the  beginning  of  his  administration  considerable  improvements 
were  made  in  the  grounds  and  buildings  of  the  institution  and  material 
additions  to  its  scientific  apparatus  also  took  place.  In  1895  Prof. 
J.  N.  Robinson,  an  alumnus  of  Bethel  College,  Kentucky,  and  a  teacher 
with  a  number  of  years  of  successful  experience,  was  associated  with 
President  Chandler  in  the  faculty  as  its  business  manager  and  financial 
agent. 

President  Chandler  resigned  in  1896,  since  which  time  there  have 
been  several  changes  in  the  presidency  of  the  institution.  Eev.  A.  S. 
Petty,  D.  D.,  first  became  president,  but  only  retained  the  office  for  a 
few  months,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Eev.  G.  W.  Eiley,  who  held 
the  position  until  the  present  summer,  when  A.  F.  Williams,  A.  M., 
was  elected  president.  Professor  Williams  has  been  for  several  years 
the  vice  president  of  Bethel  College,  Eussellville,  Ky.,  and  by  his 
training  should  be  well  fitted  to  make  a  success  of  his  present  position. 

The  students  of  Clinton  come  mainly  from  western  Kentucky,  north- 
western Tennessee,  and  southeastern  Missouri.  The  average  matricu- 
lation annually  for  the  past  few  years  has  been  about  150.  The  number 
of  graduates  each  year  of  late  has  averaged  about  6.  The  total  number 
of  graduates  since  the  first  class  was  sent  out  in  1878  is  about  90,  who 
are  about  equally  divided  between  the  sexes.  Of  these  graduates 
several  have  become  successful  teachers  and  lawyers,  while  others 
occupy  prominent  Baptist  pulpits.  To  meet  local  needs  the  college  still 
maintains  all  grades  of  instruction  from  primary  to  a  collegiate  course 
of  four  years.  Its  preparatory  department  has  a  course  extending 
through  three  years,  while  the  regular  classical  and  scientific  college 
courses1  extend  through  four  years  each.  It  has  also  a  department  of 
music  and  a  teachers'  training  course,  to  prepare  for  teaching  in  the 
public  schools.  The  present  faculty  has  seven  members. 

1  The  schools  of  instruction  leading  to  these  courses  are  Latin  and  Greek,  modern 
languages,  English,  history,  mathematics,  mental  and  moral  philosophy,  and 
natural  science,  in  each  of  which  a  diploma  is  granted.  In  the  scientific  course  cer- 
tain portions  of  the  schools  of  natural  science  and  modern  languages  are  substituted 
for  Greek  in  the  classical  course. 


214  HISTORY    OF   HIGHER    EDUCATION   IN    KENTUCKY. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Facts  furnished  by  President  Chandler  have  formed  the  basis  of  this  sketch, 
particularly  for  its  early  history.  The  facts  thus  obtained  have  been  supplemented 
by  information  obtained  from  catalogues,  from  a  short  sketch  in  the  Clinton  Dem- 
ocrat, by  Rev.  B.  B.  Bailey,  one  in  the  Baptist  Gleaner,  by  Miss  A.  M.  Hicks,  and 
from  Henderson's  Centennial  Exhibit. 

LIBERTY  COLLEGE,  GLASGOW. 

Liberty  College  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  interest  and  enterprise  man- 
ifested in  the  cause  of  higher  education  by  the  citizens  of  Glasgow, 
Ky.,  and  of  the  Baptists  of  Liberty  Association,  from  which  body  it 
receives  its  name.  The  one  principally  instrumental  in  its  founda- 
tion is  Rev.  N.  G.  Terry,  still  a  member  of  its  board  of  regents,  who 
was  for  a  number  of  years  in  charge  of  Allen  Lodge  Female  College, 
a  local  institution  situated  at  Glasgow,  of  which  in  a  sense  Liberty 
College  may  beconsidered  a  development.  While  engaged  in  con- 
ducting it,  Mr.  Terry,  about  1872,  conceived  the  idea  that  the  scope 
and  character  of  the  educational  work  then  being  done  in  the  com- 
munity could  be  enlarged  by  having  Liberty  Association  of  the 
Baptist  Church  found,  under  its  own  control,  a  higher  and  better 
institution.  Accordingly  he  drew  up  a  preamble  and  set  of  resolu- 
tions looking  toward  that  end,  which  he  was  instrumental  in  having 
the  association  adopt  at  its  next  regular  annual  meeting. 

Among  other  generous  promoters  and  warm  friends  of  the  enter- 
prise in  Glasgow  and  elsewhere  may  be  mentioned  ex-Governor  P.  H. 
Leslie,  Major  Cheek,  Hon.  S.  E.  Jones,  and  Rev.  Basil  Manly,  D.  D., 
then  president  of  Georgetown  College,  Kentucky.  Dr.  Manly  drafted 
the  charter  for  the  proposed  institution,  and  it  was  largely  through 
his  influence  that  it  was  passed  by  the  State  legislature  in  1873. 
According  to  this  instrument,  the  college  was  to  be  managed  by  a 
board  of  16  regents  or  trustees,  elected,  two  each  year  after  the  first  year, 
by  the  association  after  which  it  was  named.  It  was  also  granted  all 
the  usual  collegiate  powers  and  privileges. 

After  its  legal  basis  was  thus  secured  it  was  decided  to  locate  the 
institution  in  that  town  within  the  bounds  of  the  association  which 
should  offer  the  greatest  inducements.  Accordingly  a  contest  of 
liberality  arose,  in  which  Smith's  Grove,  Cave  City,  and  Glasgow  par- 
ticipated, the  latter  securing  the  college  by  furnishing  a  subscription 
of  about  $12,000.  Additional  funds  were  soon  raised,  an  admirable 
site  purchased,  and  a  handsome  brick  building,  partly  two  stories 
and  partly  three  stories  in  height,  with  a  front  of  140  feet  and  a  depth 
of  80  feet,  erected  at  a  cost  of  about  $25,000.  This  structure,  which 
was  completed  in  1875,  is  well  adapted  for  its  uses  and  contains,  in 
addition  to  its  excellent  rooms  for  educational  purposes,  accommoda- 
tions for  40  boarding  pupils.  The  institution  was  at  first  designed 
only  for  young  ladies  and  was  conducted  for  many  years  as  an  exclu- 


LIBERTY    COLLEGE.  215 

sively  female  college.     Its  course  as  first  established  was  that  usually 
pursued  in  female  colleges  at  the  time. 

Upon  the  completion  of  its  building  its  presidency  was  at  first 
tendered  to  its  chief  founder,  Rev.  N.  G.  Terry,  but  on  his  declining 
the  position  the  board  of  regents  elected  as  the  first  president  of  the 
college  James  H.  Fuqua,  A.  M.,  an  alumnus  of  Bethel  College  in 
1858  and  already  a  teacher  of  mark,  who  has  subsequently  been 
prominent  in  the  educational  history  of  the  State,  as  a  professor  for 
many  years  in  his  alma  mater,  and  for  a  time  chairman  of  its  faculty. 
President  Fuqua  took  charge  of  Liberty  College  at  its  opening  in 
September,  1875,  and  remained  at  its  head  for  five  years,  during 
which  it  seems  to  have  been  quite  prosperous.  It  sent  out  its  first 
graduating  class  of  4  members  in  1878  and  had  18  other  alumnae  dur- 
ing the  remaining  two  years  of  this  administration.  President  Fuqua 
resigned  in  1880  to  accept  a  professorship  in  Bethel  College.  His  suc- 
cessor in  the  presidency  of  Liberty  College  was  Rev.  J.  B.  Reynolds, 
whose  administration  continued  during  one  year.  It  was  about  this 
time,  when  the  institution  experienced  considerable  distress  financially, 
that  it  found  a  valuable  friend  and  helper  in  the  late  Rev.  W.  W. 
Gardner,  D.  D.  The  original  building  had  not  been  completed  with- 
out accumulating  a  debt  of  about  $8,000,  which  was  now  pressing 
heavily  upon  it.  It  was  rescued  from  this  embarrassment  by  the 
efforts  and  energy  of  Dr.  Gardner,  who  was  long  connected  with  the 
educational  work  of  his  church  in  Kentucky,  being  for  many  years 
professor  of  theology  at  Bethel  College,  and  whose  labors  for  and 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  education  in  the  State  well  deserve  a  special 
mention.  Seeing  at  this  time  the  work  of  Liberty  College  liable  to  be 
seriously  hindered,  he  took  the  field  in  its  behalf  and  was  able  to 
secure  money  and  pledges  sufficient  to  free  the  institution  from  debt. 

After  President  Reynolds's  retirement  from  the  executive  chair  of 
the  college  Profs.  E.  W.  Elrod  and  J.  P.  Fruit  were  then  associated 
for  two  years  in  its  presidency.  At  the  end  of  this  time  Professor 
Fruit  resigned  to  accept  the  chair  of  English  in  his  alma  mater, 
Bethel  College,  and  his  place  was  supplied  by  Prof.  ,E.  W.  White, 
who  remained  associated  with  Professor  Elrod  in  the  management  of 
Liberty  until  1889,  when  both  resigned  to  take  charge  of  Lynnland 
Institute,  which  they  had  jointly  purchased.  The  college  at  Glasgow 
had  had  a  good  patronage  during  their  administration,  its  alumnae 
for  the  past  eight  years  having  numbered  33. 

In  the  summer  of  1889  Rev.  T.  S.  McCall  was  elected  to  the  presi- 
dency of  the  institution,  a  position  held  by  him  two  years,  when  he 
resigned  to  become  president  of  Bethel  Female  College  at  Hopkins- 
ville,  Ky.  The  average  annual  attendance  during  his  administration 
was  about  120  and  the  number  of  graduates  for  the  time  11. 

The  next  incumbent  of  the  executive  chair  of  Liberty  College  was 
Rev.  J.  M.  Bent,  D.  D.,  who  resigned  the  presidency  of  the  Baptist 


216  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN    KENTUCKY. 

College  at  Pierce  City,  Mo.,  in  order  to  accept  the  position.  An  un- 
fortunate accident  caused  the  death  of  Dr.  Bent  before  the  end  of 
his  second  year,  and  in  1893  Rev.  J.  M.  Bruce,  A.  M.,  then  pastor 
of  the  Baptist  Church  at  Glasgow,  was  induced  to  take  charge  of  the 
college. 

Mr.  Bruce,  after  Mr.  Terry  and  Dr.  Gardner,  may  be  considered  in 
a  sense  a  third  founder  of  the  institution,  for  he  rescued  it  a  sec- 
ond time  from  financial  difficulties.  Some  of  the  pledges  secured 
by  Dr.  Gardner  could  not  be  collected,  and  the  resulting  defi- 
ciency, together  with  some  other  necessary  indebtedness,  had  accu- 
mulated to  about  $4,000.  Through  the  efforts  of  President  Bruce  this 
amount  was  raised  and  enough  more  to  make  considerable  improve- 
ments in  the  college  property,  so  that  at  his  resignation  in  1895  the 
institution  was  left  free  from  debt  and  prepared  for  greater  useful- 
ness in  the  future.  A  primary  department  was  attached  to  the  insti- 
tution during  this  administration  and,  in  1893-94,  the  number  of  stu- 
dents rose  to  217,  the  largest  in  the  history  of  the  college.  The  faculty 
•at  that  time  numbered  7  members. 

In  the  summer  of  1895,  H.  J.  Greenwell,  A.  M.,  an  alumnus  of 
Georgetown  College,  Kentucky,  who  had  had  many  years'  successful 
experience  at  the  head  of  educational  enterprises  at  Bardstown  and 
other  places  in  Kentucky,  became  president  of  the  college,  which  he 
has  since  efficiently  conducted.  Under  his  administration  the  insti 
tution  has  steadily  increased  its  matriculation,  which  was  at  first 
considerably  reduced  by  the  general  financial  stringency.  The  pres- 
ent faculty  contains  six  members,  with  George  J.  Burnett,  A.  B.,  as 
vice-president.  Arrangements  are  in  progress  during  the  present 
summer  to  materially  improve  the  college  grounds  and  buildings  and 
to  add  several  new  teachers  to  the  faculty,  a  large  commercial  depart- 
ment being  among  the  new  features  contemplated.  The  present  regu- 
lar college  course  in  literature  and  science,  together  with  depart- 
ments of  music  and  art  and  a  normal  course  for  training  teachers,  is 
to  be  maintained,  and  improved  as  the  times  demand. 

A  gradual  movement  toward  what  may  be  called  popularizing  the 
institution  and  making  its  advantages  more  accessible  to  the  patron- 
izing association  as  a  whole  and  to  the  public  generally  had  been  per- 
ceptible in  its  history  for  several  years  at  the  time  of  the  accession  of 
President  Greenwell.  During  D/r.  Bent's  administration  business  and 
normal  courses  had  been  added  to  its  curriculum,  and,  under  Mr. 
Bruce,  it  had  opened  its  doors  to  young  men  as  day  pupils.  As  the 
logical  result  of  this  movement,  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  admin- 
istration all  departments  of  the  college  were  fully  opened  to  young 
men,  separate  boarding  departments  having  been  provided  for  the 
two  sexes,  and  the  institution  became  fully  coeducational,  thus  join- 
ing in  the  general  coeducational  movement  apparent  in  the  educa- 
tional history  of  Kentucky  in  recent  years. 


OGDEN   COLLEGE.  217 

The  total  number  of  graduates  of  Liberty  College,  according  to  the 
best  information  at  hand,  which  is  approximately  correct,  is  82,  of 
whom  79  are  young  ladies  and  3  young  men;  a  number  of  these  adorn 
various  stations  in  different  walks  of  life. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

This  sketch  is  based  entirely  on  correspondence  and  catalogues. 
OGDEN  COLLEGE,  BOWLING  GREEN. 

Ogden  College  owes  its  existence  to  the  wise  beneficence  of  Maj. 
Robert  W.  Ogden,  who  by  his  will,  dated  December  7,  1870,  left  the 
sum  of  $50,000,  "or  so  much  thereof  as  may  be  necessary,"  to  be  used 
"  in  the  purchase  of  suitable  grounds  and  the  erection  thereon  of  appro- 
priate buildings  in  or  near  the  town  of  Bowling  Green,  Ky.,  to  be  dedi- 
cated and  devoted  to  the  education  therein  of  males  or  females,  young 
men  or  young  women,  as  my  executor  or  executors  may  elect."1  By 
further  provisions  of  the  will  the  proposed  institution  was  to  be  called 
Ogden  College,  if  a  male  school  should  be  decided  upon,  or  Ogden 
Seminary  if  a  female  school.  It  was  also  made  the  residuary  legatee 
of  his  estate,  the  income  on  the  amount  thus  realized,  which  was  esti- 
mated at  the  time  of  his  death  to  be  something  over  $60,000,2  was  "to 
form  a  fund  out  of  which  to  pay,  as  far  as  it  will  go,  the  tuition  fees 
of  an}7  of  the  young  men  [or  young  women]  of  Warren  County  or  the 
State  of  Kentucky  who  may  choose  to  avail  themselves  of  this  fund."1 
Preference  was  also  expressed  for  a  male  college,  although  the  decision 
of  that  matter  was  left  entirely  to  his  executors,  Judge  William  V. 
Loving  and  his  son,  Hon.  H.  V.  Loving,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  who,  under 
the  name  of  regents,  were  to  have  full  general  control  over  the  insti- 
tution, the  more  immediate  government  of  which  was  to  be  intrusted 
to  a  board  of  five  trustees,  appointed  by  the  regents. 

Major  Ogden  died  on  November  10,  1873.  Hon.  H.  V.  Loving,  the 
only  one  of  his  executors  to  accept  the  trust,  decided  in  favor  of  a 
male  college,  according  to  the  preference  expressed  in  the  will,  and  in 
September,  1874,  selected  as  the  first  board  of  trustees  for  the  institu- 
tion Hon.  Robert  Rodes,  Hon.  H.  T.  Clark,  Judge  H.  K.  Thomas, 
Col.  W.  E.  Holson,  and  Hon.  D.  W.  Wright.  Mr.  Rodes  became 
president  and  Mr.  Wright  secretary  and  treasurer.  This  board  for  a 
number  of  years  looked  after  the  interests  of  the  infant  institution 
faithfully  and  efficiently,  and  it  was  through  their  labors  that  much  of 
v  the  impetus  which  has  made  it  what  it  now  is  was  imparted.  Mr. 
\Wright  especially,  who  still  retains  the  same  official  position,  has  given 
much  time  and  attention  to  the  success  of  the  enterprise. 

Some  time  was  necessarily  occupied  in  settling  up  the  estate,  but, 

1  Records  of  the  Warren  County  court. 

2  Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  246.    Somewhat  more  than  this  amount 
was,  it  appears,  realized  from  the  residuary  estate. 


218  HISTORY   OP   HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

by  resolution  of  the  board  of  trustees  adopted  011  June  12,  1877,  it 
was  decided  to  open  the  college  for  students  011  the  first  Monday  of  the 
following  September,  and  on  July  16, 1877,  the  first  faculty  was  elected, 
composed  of  .Rev.  J.  W.  Wightman,  D.  D.,  president,  and  M.  H. 
Crump  and  John  P.  Leotsakos,  professors.  A  charter  was  later  secured 
for  the  institution,  which  bears  the  date  of  March  8, 1878,  and  confers 
all  the  usual  collegiate  powers  and  privileges. 

The  amount  of  the  residuary  funds  which  could  be  depended  upon 
at  the  time  of  the  opening  of  the  college  or  that  have  been  realized 
since  were  not  and  have  not  been  sufficient  to  support  a  large  faculty 
or  properly  train  a  large  number  of  students.  Hence  the  policy  of  the 
trustees  has  been  to  limit  the  number  of  students  to  such  as  can  be 
property  cared  for  by  the  institution,  while  at  the  same  time  giving  as 
much  free  tuition  as  its  means  will  justify.  The  number  of  students 
to  be  received  was  limited  to  100  by  a  resolution  of  the  board  adopted 
on  August  18, 1877.  Tuition  was  practically  free  from  the  beginning 
to  students  from  Kentucky,  and  especially  from  Warren  County,  these 
being  only  required  to  pay  a  small  incidental  fee l  each  term,  which  was 
often  remitted  entirely  in  the  case  of  deserving  students  of  limited 
means.  Students  from  other  States  were  required  to  pay  in  addition 
the  comparatively  small  tuition  fee  of  $30  a  year.  Until  quite  recently 
as  many  as  60  students  have  always  been  admitted  free  of  tuition. 
Upon  this  basis  the  matriculation  of  the  institution  has  necessarily 
remained  local  to  a  large  extent,  as  the  local  attendance  has  always 
been  quite  equal  to  the  capacity  of  the  college  under  its  regular 
income,  and  the  tuition  of  nonresident  students,  few  in  numbers  as 
they  have  been,  could  not  be  depended  upon  for  an  enlargement  of 
the  institution,  either  in  the  way  of  furnishing  additional  teaching 
force  or  better  general  equipment. 

The  first  session  of  the  college  was  opened  on  September  3, 1877,  the 
property  having  been  leased  for  its  use  which  had  been  lately  occu- 
pied by  Warren  College,  an  institution  inaugurated  at  Bowling  Green, 
in  1872,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South 
and  quite  prosperous  for  a  time,  but  which  had  recently  been  forced 
to  suspend  on  account  of  lack  of  sufficient  financial  support.  The 
course  of  instruction  in  the  new  institution,  as  originally  outlined, 
consisted  of  a  preparatory  course  of  two  years  and  a  college  course  of 
four  years.  By  reason  of  many  students  dropping  out  and  others  tak- 
ing their  places  128  matriculates  were  in  attendance  the  first  year, 
nearly  all  of  them  pursuing  preparatory  work.  College  classes  were 
more  fully  organized  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  session,  when 
William  A.  Obenchain,  A.  M.,  was  added  to  the  previous  faculty  as 
professor  of  mathematics. 

1  This  fee  in  1877  was  $5  a  year.  In  1878  it  was  made  $6  a  year  and  in  1880  $10 
a  year,  which  it  has  since  remained. 


1.  Academic  building.  2.  Fourteenth  street  entrance. 

3.  View  down  State  street  from  State  street  entrance. 


OGDEN  COLLEGE,  BOWLING  GREEN. 


OGDEN    COLLEGE.  219 

In  1878  the  means  of  the  institution  were  further  increased  by  its 
becoming  the  residuary  legatee  of  the  estate  of  Maj.  John  E.  Robin- 
son, of  Bowling  Green.  This  bequest,  amounting  to  about  $25,000, 
was  given  for  the  endowment  of  a  professorship.  Subsequent  litiga- 
tion over  the  will,  however,  only  left  to  the  college  about  half  that 
amount,  the  income  from  which  has  been  set  apart  to  the  chair  of 
natural  science,  which,  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  bequest, 
is  styled  the  John  E.  Robinson  chair  of  natural  science.  In  1880  the 
desirable  grounds  and  buildings  hitherto  used  by  the  institution, 
which  are  beautifully  situated  in  the  suburbs  of  Bowling  Green,  well 
adapted  to  college  purposes,  and  estimated  to  be  worth  about  $25,000, 
were  purchased  by  its  trustees.  The  already  handsome  campus  of 
about  10  acres  was  further  beautified.  The  buildings  were  also  con- 
siderably improved  internally,  the  accommodations  enlarged,  and  the 
equipment  of  the  college  otherwise  much  enhanced,  among  the  other 
additions  being  a  good  complement  of  mathematical,  chemical,  and 
physical  apparatus. 

The  average  attendance  during  the  first  three  years  of  its  history 
remained  about  the  same.  In  1880,  however,  the  course  of  study  was 
more  thoroughly  systematized,  being  divided  into  the  eight  schools  of 
ancient  languages,  mathematics,  natural  science,  philosophy,  civil  en- 
gineering, modern  languages,  English  language  and  literature,  and 
commercial  science,  and  a  more  rigid  test  of  scholarship  having  been 
applied,  the  number  of  students  in  1880-81  was  reduced  to  87,  which 
has  since  remained  about  the  usual  average  annual  matriculation. 
At  the  end  of  this  session  the  first  graduating  class  of  three  members, 
upon  whom  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts  was  conferred,  was  sent  out 
by  the  college. 

In  August,  1883,  Dr.  Wightman  resigned  the  presidency  of  the  col- 
lege, which  he  had  done  much  to  start  on  its  career  of  usefulness,  and 
was  shortly  afterwards  succeeded  by  Prof.  William  A.  Obenchain,  who 
has  since  efficiently  discharged  the  duties  of  the  position.  At  the 
same  time  a  bachelor  of  science  course,  strong  especially  in  mathe- 
matics and  modern  languages,  was  added  to  the  previous  course  of 
bachelor  of  arts,  thus  allowing  a  partial  specialization  of  studies. 
This  principle  was  still  further  extended,  in  1885,  by  the  addition  of 
a  bachelor  of  philosophy  course,  which  has  as  its  distinctive  basis 
English,  modern  languages,  and  history,  the  last  subject,  including 
political  economy,  constituting  a  new  school  in  the  curriculum,  which 
then  became  substantially  what  it  has  since  remained. 

Local  conditions  have  been  such  that  the  college  has  always  found 
it  necessary,  as  is  the  case  with  most  other  institutions  of  higher  edu- 
cation in  the  State,  to  have  attached  to  it  a  preparatory  department, 
in  order  that  its  students  may  be  properly  trained  for  its  collegiate 
classes.  The  course  in  this  department  extends  through  two  years  and 


220  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

necessarily  takes  up  a  great  deal  of  the  time  and  attention  of  the 
faculty.  The  standard  of  the  collegiate  department  has,  however,  not 
only  been  maintained  from  the  first,  but  has  been  from  time  to  time 
improved,  as  in  1889,  when  more  rigid  requirements  for  entrance 
were  instituted  by  reason  of  the  improved  condition  of  the  graded 
school  system  of  Bowling  Green,  from  which  a  large  proportion  of  its 
students  naturally  come. 

In  1895  it  was  found  that  under  the  practically  free  tuition  system 
which  had  been  in  use  the  college  had  been  conducted  on  a  scale  too 
liberal  for  its  own  resources.  Its  future  growth  and  expansion  were 
in  dang;er,  as  the  income  from  its  endowment  fund  had  decreased 
considerably,  owing  to  the  general  decline  in  the  rate  of  interest. 
Two  courses  of  action  then  confronted  its  trustees — either  to  curtail 
its  work  and  lower  its  grade  or  to  limit  the  number  of  free  scholarships, 
only  awarding  these  to  deserving  young  men  in  need  of  aid,  and 
requiring  all  others  to  pay  a  moderate  tuition  fee  in  addition  to  the 
regular  incidental  fee,  required  of  all  students,  and  the  special  labora- 
tory fees,  required  in  the  scientific  departments.  The  board  wisely 
adopted  the  second  of  these  plans,  fixing  the  number  of  free  scholar- 
ships at  40,  and  the  rate  of  tuition  in  the  collegiate  department  at  $40, 
and  in  the  preparatory  department,  $25  a  year.  The  experience  of 
the  institution  has  since  abundantly  confirmed  the  wisdom  of  this 
choice,  as  the  attendance  has  not  been  diminished,  at  least  materially, 
and  with  the  additional  income  thus  secured  another  member  has  been 
added  to  the  faculty.  The  college  has  been  able  to  maintain  its  former 
good  standard  of  scholarship  and  to  increase  rather  than  diminish  its 
usefulness,  and  an  avenue  for  further  enlargement  in  the  future  has 
been  provided. 

The  courses  of  instruction  are  uniformly  well  arranged  and  thor- 
ough as  far  as  they  go,  and  its  equipments  and  facilities  for  in- 
struction in  its  chosen  line  of  work  have  been  kept  up  with  the 
demands  of  modern  education.  It  has  a  well-selected  library  of  mis- 
cellaneous books  and  works  of  reference,  and  has  a  well-appointed 
equipment  for  illustration  and  practical  instruction  in  the  different 
branches  of  science.  The  college  has  not  striven  for  numbers,  either 
in  attendance  or  in  the  graduates  it  has  sent  forth.  Its  average 
annual  matriculation  during  the  twenty-one  years  of  .its  existence  has 
been  about  95,  and  during  that  time  it  has  had  only  41  graduates. 
Those  of  its  graduates  who  have  pursued  advanced  courses  of  study 
in  Eastern  universities  or  in  professional  schools  have  as  a  rule  taken 
a  high  standing  and  acquitted  themselves  with  honor,  while  the  suc- 
cess of  all,  in  business  life  and  in  the  various  professions,  will  com- 
pare favorably  with  that  of  the  alumni  of  other  institutions  in  the 
State  during  the  same  period.  The  majority  of  its  present  board  of 
trustees  are  graduates  of  the  institution. 

The  grounds  and  buildings  of  the  institution  are  estimated  to  be 


UNION    COLLEGE.  221 

worth  about  $40,000,  while  its  productive  funds  now  approximate 
1120,000.  Its  present  faculty  is  constituted  as  follows:  William  A. 
Obeiichain,  A.  M. ,  president  and  professor  of  mathematics  and  political 
science;  William  F.  Perry,  A.  M.,  professor  of  English  language  and 
literature,  elocution,  and  history;  John  B.  Preston,  M.  A.,  professor 
of  ancient  languages  and  French;  S.  R.  McKee,  Ph.  D.,  John  E.  Rob- 
inson professor  of  natural  science;  Henry  K.  McGoodwin,  B.  S., 
instructor  in  history. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Collins's  History  of  Kentucky. 
Records  of  the  Warren  County  Court. 
Minutes  of  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

UNION  COLLEGE,  BAKBOURVILLE. 

Union  College  is  the  adopted  college  of  Kentucky  Conference  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  standing  in  the  same  relation  to 
that  body  that  Kentucky  Wesleyan  College  does  to  Kentucky  Confer- 
ence of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South.  The  former,  there- 
fore, although  one  of  the  most  recently  organized  institutions  of 
higher  education  in  Kentucky,  is,  as  well  as  the  latter,  as  old  in  con- 
ception and  spirit  as  Bethel  Academy  and  has  an  equal  right  to 
trace  its  lineage  from  that  source  down  through  Augusta  College  and 
the  period  of  Methodist  control  of  Transylvania  University. 

The  establishment  of  Union  College  is  largely  due  to  the  foresight 
and  energy  of  Rev.  Daniel  Stevenson,  D.  D.,  who  was  in  many  ways 
prominent  in  educational  matters  in  Kentucky,  being  influential  in 
the  establishment  of  Kentucky  Wesleyan  College  in  1859,  and  State 
superintendent  of  public  instruction  from  1863  to  1867.  Dr.  Steven- 
son had,  with  a  considerable  number  of  others,  withdrawn  from  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South  at  the  close  of  the  civil  war  and 
united  with  the  comparatively  small  number  of  members  left  in  Ken- 
tucky at  that  time  of  the  older  branch  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States,  commonly  called  in  contradistinction 
the  Northern  Methodist  Church,  from  which  organization  the  separa- 
tion of  the  Southern  church  had  taken  place  in  1844-45. 

In  the  change  of  church  relations  the  larger  part  of  the  church 
property  and  at  least  all  of  the  important  educational  institutions  had 
been  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Southern  Church,  and  so  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  found  itself  without  any  representative  college. 
Dr.  Stevenson,  considering,  as  expressed  substantially  in  his  own 
words,1  the  promotion  of  the  cause  of  education  as  a  duty  and  priv- 
ilege of  the  church  next  to  preaching  the  gospel,  and  as  a  necessity 
to  the  permanent  progress  of  any  religious  movement,  saw  the  impera- 
tive need  of  establishing  schools  for  his  denomination  as  well  as  build- 

1  In  a  personal  letter  of  January  30,  1896. 


222  HISTORY   OF   HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

ing  churches  and  parsonages.  Accordingly  steps  were  taken  by  him 
and  others  looking  toward  the  accomplishment  of  this  purpose,  and  in 
1866  a  charter  was  obtained  from  the  State  legislature  for  a  board  of 
education  of  Kentucky  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
This  board,  according  to  its  charter,  is  composed  of  10  members,  2  of 
whom  are  elected  each  year  by  the  conference,  and  has  control  of  a 
number  of  educational  institutions  belonging  to  its  church  in  Ken- 
tucky, of  which  Union  College  is  the  only  one  of  collegiate  grade.  It 
also  possesses  all  the  usual  powers  and  privileges  of  a  college  board 
of  trustees. 

Nothing  was  done  by  this  board  of  education  for  several  years  after 
its  organization,  owing  to  the  lack  of  funds,  the  means  of  the  church, 
during  this  period,  being  absorbed  in  more  direct  and  pressing  church 
undertakings;  but  in  1879,  under  their  supervision,  Dr.  Stevenson 
leased  the  old  Augusta  College  building,  thus  returning  to  an  old  edu- 
cational center  of  his  church,  and  opened,  in  the  autumn  of  that  year, 
the  Augusta  Collegiate  Institute.  This  step,  however,  since  the 
Augusta  property,  by  reason  of  its  legal  status,  could  never  be  per- 
manently acquired,  was  only  considered  preparatory  to  an  enlarged 
educational  enterprise  elsewhere  when  a  propitious  opening  should 
occur.  The  collegiate  institute  was  conducted  at  Augusta  for  eight 
years,  where  it  did  an  excellent  educational  work  under  Dr.  Steven- 
son's efficient  management. 

Meanwhile  the  desired  opportunity  to  secure  a  suitable  equipment 
and  a  good  location  was  found  when  the  property  of  Union  College 
was  sold  in  1886.  This  institution  had  been  incorporated  in  1879  and 
a  building  erected  for  it  at  Barbourville  in  1880  by  a  joint  stock  com- 
pany. Mainly  through  the  influence  of  Mr.  A.  H.  Harritt,  $7,470  had 
been  spent  for  grounds  and  a  partially  completed  building,  in  which 
a  school  had  been  opened  in  the  autumn  of  1880.  The  property,  how- 
ever, had  soon  become  involved  in  litigation,  and  the  school  had  been 
closed  for  some  time  when  its  property  was  sold,  by  order  of  court,  on 
October  25, 1886.  It  was  at  that  time  purchased  and  held  for  the  con- 
ference by  Dr.  Stevenson,  with  the  financial  assistance  of  Mr.  Green 
Elliot  and  Mrs.  M.  P.  Dowis,  of  Barbourville,  Dr.  Stevenson  having 
secured  authority  for  this  action  from  the  conference  at  its  meeting 
in  Lexington  in  the  preceding  September. 

The  year  1886,  in  which  this  purchase  took  place,  is  considered  the 
foundation  date  of  Union  College  under  its  present  organization.  In 
December,  1886,  a  school  was  opened  in  its  building,  under  the  care  of 
the  conference,  with  George  H.  Dains,  A.  M.,  as  principal.  Professor 
Dains  had  been  associated  with  Dr.  Stevenson  in  the  faculty  of 
Augusta  Collegiate  Institute.  He  had  full  charge  of  Union  College 
until  June,  1887,  and  also  for  part  of  the  scholastic  year  1887-88,  Rev. 
J.  D.  H.  Corwine  being  principal  for  the  other  part  of  that  year.  The 
other  teachers  during  this  time  were  Mr.  Francis  Goetz  and  Miss 


UNION   COLLEGE.  223 

Emma  B.  Wykes,  while  some  assistance  was  rendered  by  Professor 
Dains's  mother. 

In  September,  1887,  Dr.  Stevenson  was  appointed  president  and 
financial  agent  of  the  college  by  the  board  of  education,  who  then 
took  direct  charge  of  the  institution.  Dr.  Stevenson  accepted  the 
position,  resigning  the  presidency  of  Augusta  Collegiate  Institute  in 
order  to  do  so,  but  devoted  himself  for  the  first  year  to  raising  the 
money  to  pay  for  the  property  and  make  needed  improvements.  He 
proceeded  with  his  characteristic  energy,  always  going  ahead,  whether 
the  circumstances  appeared  favorable  or  unfavorable,  and  was  able, 
by  the  next  session  of  the  conference  in  Louisville,  to  present  to  the 
board  of  education  a  deed  for  the  property,  having  secured  funds 
not  only  sufficient  to  pay  for  it,  but  also  to  complete  the  building, 
make  some  necessary  repairs  and  improvements,  and  supply  needed 
furniture.  The  one  who  was  the  chief  contributor  toward  purchasing 
the  property,  and  who  has  since  been  largely  instrumental  in  supply- 
ing the  pressing  needs  of  the  college  by  meeting  deficiencies  in  its  cur- 
rent expenses,  and  has  besides  laid  the  foundation  of  its  endowment, 
is  Mrs,  Fanny  Speed,  of  Louisville.  The  completed  college  building 
contains  a  chapel  capable  of  seating  from  300  to  350  persons;  also  four 
large  recitation  rooms,  a  room  for  a  library,  and  one  for  the  literary 
societies,  besides  several  other  smaller  rooms.  It  is  situated  in  the 
center  of  a  campus  of  3  acres,  beautifully  adorned  by  shade  trees. 

In  the  autumn  of  1888  Dr.  Stevenson  assumed  the  active  duties  of 
the  presidency  of  the  college,  which  he  continued  to  discharge  with 
great  acceptability  until  his  death  in  1897.  The  institution  had  found 
it  necessary,  in  order  to  meet  local  needs,  to  establish,  besides  its  collegi- 
ate department,  not  only  a  preparatory  department,  but  also  primary 
and  intermediate  departments,  and  has  not  yet  been  able  to  discontinue 
these.  It  has  also  continued  upon  its  former  coeducational  basis.  It 
had  been  a  college  in  name,  but  an  academy  in  fact,  prior  to  the 
presidency  of  Dr.  Stevenson,  but  under  his  management,  although 
the  lower  departments  were  still  retained,  its  collegiate  department 
was  soon  developed  into  what  its  name  implied.  Its  course,  which 
had  been  previously  very  much  strengthened,  had  a  whole  year's 
requirements,  chiefly  in  Latin,  Greek,  and  mathematics,  added  in 
1894-95  and  was  in  that  year  brought  up  to  the  requirements  of  the 
university  senate  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

This  body,  which  is  somewhat  unique  in  character  and  already  an 
important  educational  factor,  while  likely  to  be  more  so  in  the  future, 
is  worthy  of  some  description  in  this  connection.  It  was  provided  for 
by  the  general  conference  of  1892,  and  has  for  its  object  the  unifica- 
tion of  the  colleges  of  Methodism  by  placing  them  in  federal  relations 
to  each  other  and  bringing  them  all  under  the  direct  supervision  of 
the  church  in  respect  to  their  scholastic  requirements.  It  is  composed 
of  practical  educators,  whose  duty  it  is  to  determine  the  minimum 


224  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

amount  of  actual  academic  work  necessary  for  the  baccalaureate  degree 
in  the  educational  institutions  of  the  church.  Reports  are  made  by  it 
quadrennially  to  the  board  of  education  of  the  church  at  large.  This 
body  is  authorized  to  determine  the  institutions  which  meet  these 
requirements  and  are  therefore  entitled  to  be  designated  "as  colleges 
in  the  official  list  of  the  educational  institutions  of  the  church."  The 
senate  held  its  first  meeting  and  made  its  first  report  in  November, 
1893.  The  standard  then  formulated  has  since  resulted,  under  its  dili- 
gent application  by  the  board  of  education,  in  the  raising  of  the 
courses  of  more  than  forty  colleges  of  the  church. 

The  faculty  of  Union  College  during  Dr.  Stevenson's  administration 
contained  from  4  to  6  teachers,  and  besides  those  who  are  still  members 
the  following  were  at  different  times  connected  with  it  during  this 
period:  Professor  Dains,  Miss  Wykes,  Miss  Nettie  Gray,  W.  E.  Shaw, 
A.  B.,  Miss  Mesleyana  Gardiner,  Miss  May  E.  Bowmer,  Miss  Maude 
England,  Fred.  C.  Recter,  A.  B.,  and  A.  H.  Harrop,  A.  B. 

In  1893  the  institution  sent  out  its  first  graduating  class  of  two 
members,  one  of  whom  was  Professor  Faulkner,  its  present  president. 
The  college  only  maintains  one  regular  course — the  classical  one,  which, 
since  it  has  been  brought  up  to  the  requirements  of  the  university 
senate,  is  not  behind  similar  courses  in  other  colleges  of  the  State, 
particularly  in  the  amount  of  Latin  and  Greek  it  requires  for  the 
degree  of  A.  B.  It  also  confers  the  degree  of  A.  M.  upon  the  satis- 
factory completion  of  a  course  equivalent  to  a  year's  residence  at  the 
institution  subsequent  to  taking  the  bachelor's  degree  and  the  presen- 
tation of  an  acceptable  thesis.  One  of  the  objects  of  its  establishment 
was  the  proper  training  of  candidates  for  the  ministry.  A  number 
of  these  have  been  members  of  its  regular  classes  from  the  first.  Some 
professional  training  has  been  furnished  to  these  each  year  since  1895 
by  a  special  course  of  lectures  on  theological  topics,  and  during  the 
present  summer  a  regular  professor  of  theology  has  been  added  to 
the  college  faculty.  The  institution  also  maintains  the  ornamental 
branches  of  instruction  usually  pursued  in  female  colleges. 

Dr.  Stevenson  died  on  January  2,  1897,  and  the  executive  duties  of 
the  institution  devolved  temporarily  upon  Rev.  J.  P.  Faulkner,  A.  M. , 
a  member,  as  already  noted,  of  its  first  graduating  class,  and  later  one 
of  its  professors.  On  March  22  following  he  was  regularly  elected  as 
its  president  by  the  board  of  education.  Professor  Faulkner  had  been 
associated  with  Dr.  Stevenson,  either  as  student  or  teacher,  almost  from 
the  establishment  of  the  college,  and  it  was  the  latter's  desire  that  he 
should  succeed  to  the  presidential  office  and  carry  forward  the  work 
of  the  institution  along  the  lines  already  planned — an  undertaking 
in  which  it  seems  likely  from  the  beginning 1  which  he  has  made  he 

'During  his  administration,  besides  the  addition  of  the  new  department  of  the- 
ology, the  former  matriculation  of  the  college  has  been  almost  doubled,  a  new 
member  has  been  added  to  the  faculty,  and  a  new  boarding  department  for  young 
ladies  opened. 


UNION    COLLEGE.  225 

will  achieve  success.  After  Dr.  Stevenson's  death  his  library  was 
donated  to  the  college,  and  makes,  with  previous  donations,  mainly 
given  by  Mrs.  Speed,  something  over  1,000  volumes  as  the  foundation 
of  a  future  collection.  The  college  has  also  made  a  beginning  in 
securing  an  endowment,  its  funds  for  that  purpose  now  being  about 
$8,000,  all  but  about  $2,200  of  which  has  been  contributed  by  Mrs. 
Speed. 

The  institution  has  a  wide  field  of  usefulness  before  it,  occupying  as 
it  does  a  region  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  State  in  which  institu- 
tions of  higher  education  are  very  few  in  number.  Its  character  for 
intellectual  and  moral  influence  has  been  constantly  rising,  as  it  has 
been  better  in  tone  and  grade  than  in  the  size  of  its  matriculation. 
Its  average  annual  attendance  since  its  foundation  has  been  about 
118  students  in  all  departments.  Its  graduates  up  to  1898,  inclusive, 
number  17,  among  whom  are  all  the  members  of  its  present  collegiate 
faculty,  while  others  have  entered  the  professions  of  law,  medicine, 
and  theology. 

The  faculty  of  the  college,  in  addition  to  two  teachers  connected 
with  the  primary  and  intermediate  departments,  has  the  following  reg- 
ular professors:  Rev.  James  P.  Faulkner,  A.  M.,  president  and  pro- 
fessor of  mental  and  moral  science  and  mathematics;  George  Harmon 
Wilson,  A.  B. ,  vice-president,  professor  of  Greek,  political  economy, 
and  civics;  Sarah  Elizabeth  Lock,  A.  B.,  professor  of  literature  and 
history;  George  Ewin  Hancock,  A.  B.,  professor  of  Latin  and  sciences; 
Rev.  J.  E.  Thomas,  A.  B.,  B.  D.,  professor  of  theology. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Much  of  the  material  used  in  this  sketch  was  obtained  through  correspondence 
with  Dr.  Stevenson.  Much  has  also  been  obtained  from  the  usual  sources  of 
information,  and  something  from  the  minutes  of  Kentucky  Conference  for  1895. 

2127— No.  25 15 


Chapter  VI. 

FEMALE    COLLEGES. 
LORETTO   LITERARY  AND   BENEVOLENT   INSTITUTION,  MARION  COUNTY. 

This  is  the  official  title  of  what  is  ordinarily  called  Loretto  Academy, 
a  school  which  enjoys  the  honor  of  being  the  first  institution  for  the 
higher  education  of  women  established  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  with 
a  continuous  history  to  the  present  time.  This  honor  it  shares  to  some 
extent  with  Nazareth  Academy,  founded  soon  after.  The  .long  and 
useful  career  of  both  these  schools  entitles  them  to  treatment  in  this 
monograph,  although,  if  judged  strictly  according  to  the  greater  part 
of  their  present  curricula,  they  would  be  classed  among  secondarj^ 
institutions. 

The  humble  beginning  of  the  present  Loretto  is  to  be  found  in  a 
little  school  opened  on  Hardins  Creek,  Marion  County,  by  Miss  Anne 
Rhodes,  early  in  1812.  Within  a  few  months  she  was  joined  *by  Misses 
Christine  Stuart  and  Anna  Havern.  Misses  Mary  Rhodes  and  Nellie 
Morgan  were  soon  added  to  their  number,  these  five  becoming  the 
nucleus  of  a  Catholic  sisterhood,1  a  religious  order  for  the  education 
of  young  ladies.  The  school  was  meant  to  provide  for  the  education 
of  the  rising  generation  in  what  was  then  the  wilderness  of  Kentucky, 
and  its  foundation  was  encouraged  by  Bishop  Flaget,  the  first  bishop 
of  the  West,  including  Kentucky.  He  was  ably  assisted  by  Rev. 
Charles  Nerinckx,2  a  Belgian  priest  lately  attached  to  the  diocese  and 
greatly  interested  in  the  education  of  the  people.  Both  were  seeking 
for  some  permanent  establishment  by  which  the  work  of  education 
might  be  inaugurated  and  perpetuated,  and  were  greatly  pleased  with 
the  proposition  of  the  young  ladies  mentioned  above  to  found  a  sis- 
terhood one  of  whose  special  objects  should  be  the  moral  and  intel- 
lectual training  of  the  young.  The  original  members  of  the  organi- 
zation applied  to  Father  Nerinckx  for  a  few  rules  to  be  a  guide  to 
their  daily  lives.  These  he  gave  them,  and  he  is  thus  considered  the 
founder  of  the  order. 

1  The  name  of  the  sisterhood  is  Sisters  of  Loretto,  or  The  Friends  of  Mary  at  the 
Foot  of  the  Cross. 

2  Father  Nerinckx  came  to  Kentucky  in  1805,  and  died  in  1824.     For  his  biog- 
raphy see  bibliography  at  the  end  of  the  sketch  of  St.  Mary's  College. 

226 


LORETTO  INSTITUTION.  227 

The  three  oldest  members  were  clothed  with  the  religious  habit  and 
veil  of  their  sisterhood  on  April  25, 1812,  in  St.  Charles  Church,  Marion 
County.  The  first  home  of  the  order,  located  about  6  miles  from  the 
present  mother  house,  was  a  rude  log  cabin,  a  deal  table  and  wooden 
benches  constituting  the  furniture,  hard  work  and  poverty  the  endow- 
ment. The  original  teachers  supported  themselves  from  such  small 
fees  as  could  be  paid  by  the  more  well-to-do  farmers  of  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  the  establishment  has  since  been  supported  entirely  by  tui- 
tion fees,  which  have  always  been  very  moderate.  The  sisterhood  is 
governed  by  mother  superiors,  who  are  elected  by  the  members,  accord- 
ing to  rule,  every  three  and  every  six  years.  Sister  Anne  Rhodes 
became  the  first  mother  superior,  but  as  no  one  is  publicly  distin- 
guished above  another  in  the  order  110  other  names  have  been  handed 
down  to  us  as  especially  prominent  in  the  administration  of  its  affairs. 

By  1810  the  sisterhood  had  grown  to  26  members,  and  branch  houses 
began  to  be  established,  first  in  Kentucky  and  then  in  other  States, 
especially  in  the  West.  The  sisterhood  has  since  become  one  of  the 
most  successful  organizations  engaged  in  female  education  in  the 
country,  having  now  45  branches  in  Kentucky,  Missouri,  Illinois,  Col- 
orado, New  Mexico,  Texas,  and  other  Southern  and  Western  States. 
Teachers  are  provided  for  all  these  by  a  normal  school  at  Loretto, 
which  all  young  members  are  required  to  attend  in  order  to  cultivate 
under  experienced  teachers  any  special  talent  the}7  may  have.  The 
superior  of  the  order  appoints  the  faculties  for  the  various  schools 
wherever  they  may  be  located.  In  1896  there  were  65  young  ladies  in 
the  novitiate  department,  who  must  all  spend  five  years  in  preparation 
in  the  normal  school  before  entering  upon  the  work  of  teaching,  the 
residence  and  occupation  of  each  being  assigned  \)y  the  superior. 

In  the  original  school  the  curriculum  was  gradually  extended  and 
equipments  added,  according  to  the  progress  of  the  times  and  the 
means  of  the  order.  On  December  29,  1829, l  a  charter  was  secured 
from  the  legislature  granting  the  usual  corporate  and  literary  powers. 
The  institution  is  managed  by  the  sisterhood,  all  its  teachers  being 
members  of  the  order,  but  is  by  its  charter  under  the  general  super- 
vision of  a  board  of  trustees,  composed  of  a  moderator  and  six  mem- 
bers, who  are  a  self-perpetuating  body. 

In  1888,  having  outgrown  its  quarters,  a  fine  building  was  erected, 
which  presented  quite  a  contrast  to  the  old  log  house  of  early  days. 
Besides  this  spacious  and  handsome  academy,  there  is  now  at  the 
mother  house  a  substantial  array  of  brick  buildings,  constituting  quite 
a  village,  and  located  in  the  midst  of  a  large  farm,  partty  planted  in 
orchards  and  gardens  and  partly  used  for  raising  grain  and  other  food 
products. 

The  academy  building  has  all  the  modern  improvements,  and  the 
school  has  a  library,  museum,  and  other  equipments  needed  for  suc- 


1  Acts  of  1829-30,  pp.  27-30. 


228  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN    KENTUCKY. 

cessful  teaching.  Music,  art,  and  the  different  languages  and  litera- 
tures have  been  prominent  departments  of  its  course,  which  extends 
from  a  primary  department  to  work  of  collegiate  grade.  It  has  always 
maintained  a  large  and  experienced  corps  of  teachers,  and  has  had  a 
good  patronage,  especially  from  the  South  and  West,  ranking,  as  it 
does;  as  one  of  the  leading  educational  institutions  of  its  church  in 
the  Southwest.  Its  pupils  have  come  mainly  from  Kentucky,  Mis- 
souri, Illinois,  Alabama,  Tennessee,  Colorado,  Kansas,  and  Montana, 
and  among  its  graduates  have  been  a  number  who  have  held  repu- 
table positions  in  art,  literature,  journalism,  and  as  teachers. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Maes's  Life  of  Nerinckx. 
Acts  of  the  State  legislature. 
Correspondence  and  catalogues. 

NAZARETH  LITERARY  AND  BENEVOLENT  INSTITUTION,  NELSON  COUNTY. 

This  school,  like  Loretto,  is  ordinarily  known  simply  as  Nazareth 
Academy.  It  was  almost  contemporary  with  Loretto  in  its  founda- 
tion, and  has  enjoyed  to  some  extent  a  greater  and  wider  celebrity. 
It  was  for  many  years  one  of  the  most  famous  schools  in  its  section, 
and  has  since  held  an  honorable  position  among  educational  institu- 
tions for  women  in  Kentucky,  although,  as  has  been  already  noted, 
much  of  its  work  would  now  be  classed  as  secondary. 

The  establishment  of  Nazareth  was  due  to  the  efforts  of  three  ladies, 
whose  number  was  soon  increased  to  five,  to  assist  Bishop  Flaget, 
lately  appointed  (in  1808)  the  pioneer  bishop  of  the  West,  in  educat- 
ing the  children  of  the  sturdy  farmers  who  lived  around  the  first 
episcopal  residence,  then  a  log  cabin,  located  at  St.  Thomas,  amidst 
the  picturesque  knobs  of  Nelson  County,  about  9  miles  from  Bards- 
town.  These  ladies,  eager  to  devote  themselves  to  this  good  work, 
came  to  make  their  residence  at  St.  Thomas  on  December  1,  1812. 
Soon  additions  were  made  to  their  ranks,  and  having  been  organized 
into  a  community  of  Sisters  of  Charity,1  they  founded  the  school  of 
Nazareth  in  August,  1814.  Although  Bishop  Flaget  originated  the 
plan  of  its  organization,  yet  upon  Bishop  David,  his  coadjutor,  fell 
the  greater  part  of  the  care  of  watching  over  the  foundation  and  look- 
ing after  the  interests  of  the  little  community,  and  the  latter  is  there- 
fore looked  upon  as  its  real  founder. 

The  original  home  of  the  sisterhood  was  a  log  cabin,  built  by  the 
seminary  students  of  St.  Thomas,  under  the  direction  of  Bishop  David, 
and  the  new  religious  organization  was  composed  at  first  of  only  five 
earnest  souls.  The  principal  object  of  the  order,  as  in  the  case  of  that 
of  the  Sisterhood  of  Loretto,  is  the  instruction  of  young  girls,  but  the 
Sisters  of  Charity  also  have  charge  of  orphan  asylums,  hospitals,  and 
similar  institutions. 

1  The  name  of  the  organization  is  The  Sisters  of  Charity  of  Nazareth. 


NAZARETH    ACADEMY.  229 

The  most  prominent  of  the  early  members  of  the  order  were  Mother 
Catherine  Spalding,  Sister  Ellen  O'Connell,  and  Sister  Harriet  Gardi- 
ner. Mother  Catherine  Spalding  was  a  cousin  of  Archbishop  Spald- 
ing, the  seventh  archbishop  of  Baltimore,  and  was  chosen  the  first 
mother  superior  of  the  order,  a  position  which  she  held  for  twenty- 
four  years.  She  was  the  pivot  upon  which  the  affairs  of  the  growing 
sisterhood  turned  for  many  j^ears,  and  was  noted  for  her  clear  convic- 
tions of  duty  and  her  faithful  performance  of  its  demands.  Sister 
Ellen  O'Connell  was  the  first  directress  of  studies,  a  position  which 
she  held  for  thirty-five  years,  dating  from  the  first  opening  of  the 
school  at  St.  Thomas.  She  imparted  to  the  course  from  the  begin- 
ning that  thoroughness  and  strength  which  soon  made  Nazareth 
prominent  and  attracted  pupils  from  a  distance.  Sister  Scholastica 
O'Connor  was  the  first  music  teacher  in  the  school. 

The  original  school  at  St.  Thomas  was  both  a  day  school  and  board- 
ing school,  but  in  1822  the  academy  was  moved  to  its  present  loca- 
tion, 7  miles  distant  from  its  original  one,  the  new  site  being  called 
Nazareth  and  the  day  school  at  that  time  being  discontinued.  On 
December  29,  1829, *  the  school  was  chartered  under  its  official  title, 
as  given  above,  and  was  granted  the  usual  scholastic  powers  and 
privileges.  Under  this  charter  the  institution  is  managed  by  the 
members  of  the  community,  under  the  general  supervision,  in  certain 
respects,  of  a  board  of  seven  trustees,  of  whom  the  Bishop  of  Louis- 
ville is  moderator. 

The  funds  at  the  time  of  the  removal  to  Nazareth  were  barely 
sufficient  to  purchase  the  farm  on  which  the  buildings  now  stand. 
The  school  has  since  had  no  further  endowment,  but  has  devoted  the 
income  derived  from  tuition,  as  this  increased,  to  improvement  and 
expansion,  improved  buildings  and  other  means  of  instruction  having 
been  gradually  added  as  means  have  come  in.  Within  six  years  after 
the  change  of  location  $20,000  was  spent  in  improving  the  place,  and 
in  1844  there  were  120  boarders,  whereas  there  had  been  only  30  the 
last  year  at  St.  Thomas.  The  succeeding  years  have  found  spacious, 
handsome,  and  well-arranged  buildings  added,  until  Nazareth  has 
become  one  of  the  most  extensive  and  best-equipped  boarding  schools 
in  the  country.  A  large  farm  is  attached  to  the  school  to  furnish 
recreation  grounds  and  to  aid  in  supplying  the  table.  A  view  of 
the  school  as  it  was  in  1822  and  as  it  now  is,  would  well  display  not 
only  the  growth  of  this  institution,  but  also,  in  a  general  way,  the 
expansion  of  higher  education  in  Kentucky  during  this  time. 

Not  only  has  the  parent  school  been  maintained  at  Nazareth,  but  as 
many  as  sixty-seven  branch  schools  have  been  established  in  Ken- 
tucky and  other  States  of  the  South  and  West.  Teachers  are  fur- 
nished for  all  these  schools  by  a  normal  school  conducted  at  Nazareth, 
where  these  teachers  are  carefully  trained  for  their  work. 

Besides  those  already  named,  among  others  eminently  instrumental 

1  Acts  of  1829-30,  pp.  24-27. 


230  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

in  building  up  Nazareth,  may  be  mentioned  Mother  Frances  Gardiner, 
who  came  with  her  sister  to  St.  Thomas  in  1819,  and  was,  after  the 
retirement  of  Mother  Catherine  Spalding,  for  thirty-five  years  the 
mother  superior  of  the  community.  She  had  a  great  talent  for  admin- 
istration, and  for  this  long  period  successfully  managed  the  affairs  of 
the  institution.  Even  more  noted  is  Mother  Columba  Carroll,  who 
was  Sister  Ellen  O'ConnelPs  successor  as  directress  of  studies,  holding 
that  position  for  thirty-five  years,  and  was,  after  Mother  Frances 
Gardiner's  retirement,  for  more  than  ten  years  mother  superior. 
Mother  Columba  possessed  extraordinary  zeal  and  tact  in  ruling  the 
sisterhood.  Among  those  who  have  presided  over  the  community  in 
recent  years  are  Mother  Cleophas  Mills,  the  present  mother  superior 
of  the  order,  who  was  also  at  the  head  of  its  affairs  from  1885  to  1891, 
and  Mother  Helena  Tormey,  who  was  mother  superior  from  1891  to 
1897.  Sisters  Columba  Tarleton  and  Emily  Elder  are  noted  as  having 
been  very  highly  accomplished  teachers. 

The  course  of  instruction  at  Nazareth  extends  through  seven  years, 
ranging  from  primary  work  to  that  of  collegiate  grade  and  having  such 
modern  features  as  normal  and  business  departments.  A  large  and 
well-trained  faculty  has  always  been  maintained,  and  a  library, 
museum,  and  laboratories  furnish  good  facilities  for  teaching.  The 
patronage  of  the  school  has  been  quite  large,  the  attendance  having 
been  frequently  over  two  hundred  in  a  year,  and  has  come  from  Ken- 
tucky and  the  Southern  States  generally,  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Ten- 
nessee, Texas,  and  Alabama  having  been  and  still  being  well  repre- 
sented. The  average  number  of  graduates  in  recent  years  has  been 
about  twelve,  and  the  total  number  of  alumnae  is  something  over  six 
hundred.  The  latter  are  quite  widely  distributed  throughout  the 
Union,  and  many  of  them  occupy  prominent  positions  in  teaching  and 
other  professions,  especially  in  the  West. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Spalding's  Early  Catholic  Missions. 

Acts  of  the  State  legislature. 

Reprint  of  an  article  in  the  Catholic  World  (New  York)  for  January,  1893. 

Catalogues  and  correspondence. 

SCIENCE  HILL   SCHOOL,  SHELBYVILLE. 

This  school,  although  its  work  is  now  avowedly  largely  secondary, 
is  worthy  of  consideration  on  account  of  the  especially  prominent 
position  it  has  occupied  for  a  long  time  in  the  educational  annals,  not 
only  of  Kentucky,  but  of  the  South  and  West  generally,  and  the  dis- 
tinguished services  rendered  to  the  cause  of  education  by  Mrs.  Julia 
Tevis,  its  founder  and  so  long  its  principal.  It  also  still  holds  an 
honored  rank  among  the  State's  educational  institutions  and  does 
much  teaching  of  a  grade  even  superior  to  that  done  by  many  schools 
bearing  more  pretentious  titles. 


SCIENCE    HILL    SCHOOL.  231 

Science  Hill  had*  its  beginning  in  a  private  school,  opened  in  Shelby- 
ville,  March  25,  1825,  by  Mrs.  Julia  A.  Tevis  and  her  husband,  Rev. 
John  Tevis,  of  Kentucky  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  It  is  quite  proper  that  Mrs.  Tevis's  name  should  be  men- 
tioned first  in  this  connection,  for  although  her  husband  was  asso- 
ciated with  her  for  some  time  in  conducting  the  school  and  rendered 
efficient  services  in  its  behalf,  yet  the  main  burden  of  the  enterprise, 
even  from  its  inception,  was  borne  by  Mrs.  Tevis,  and  to  her  is  to  be 
attributed  the  largest  share  of  its  success.  She  also  conducted  it  alone 
for  many  years  after  Mr.  Tevis's  death.  It  has  been  well  said  that 
"few  institutions  were  so  entirely  the  work  of  one  mind  and  hand."1 
At  the  time  of  its  establishment  it  was  only  antedated  in  Kentucky 
as  a  female  school  by  Loretto  and  Nazareth,  and  was,  with  one  excep- 
tion,2 the  first  Protestant  institution  for  girls  which  has  had  a  con- 
tinuous history  founded  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  The  school  has 
always  been  and  still  is  purely  an  individual  enterprise,  for,  although 
nominally  placed  under  care  of  Kentucky  Conference  as  early  as  1829, 
the  conference  has  never  had  any  part  in  its  management,  nor  has 
it  ever  contributed  anything  to  its  support.  Naturally  the  enterprise 
was  welcomed  and  encouraged  by  the  citizens  of  Shelbyville,  but 
they  have  never  given  anything  for  either  its  equipment  or  endow- 
ment. 

The  number  of  students  enrolled  in  the  school  was  at  first  quite 
small,  there  being  only  20  the  first  term,  of  whom  4  were  boarders, 
and  only  43  were  in  attendance  in  the  first  part  of  1827.  In  its  early 
days  it  encountered  a  prejudice  against  the  higher  education  of 
women,  then  quite  prevalent  in  Kentucky,  which  it  gradually  over- 
came. Soon,  however,  its  reputation  was  established  and  its  rooms 
were  crowded  with  students,  the  South  generally,  as  well  as  Kentucky, 
becoming  its  special  patron  and  friend.  It  was  not  long  before  its 
matriculation  was  only  limited  by  the  accommodations  it  could  fur- 
nish. Its  enrollment,  whose  names  represented  each  year  almost 
every  State  in  the  South  and  West,  soon  reached  200,  and,  between 
1850  and  1860,  frequently  was  as  much  as  300.  From  1840  to  1866 
the  reputation  of  Science  Hill  may  be  said  to  have  been  second  to 
that  of  no  female  college  in  the  South.  Mr.  Tevis  died  in  1861,  but 
his  wife  continued  to  conduct  the  institution  successfully  for  many 
years  afterwards.  Not  only  were  its  operations  not  suspended  by  the 
civil  war,  but  even  its  attendance  seems  not  to  have  been  materially 
reduced,  there  being  in  1864-65,  over  200  students  in  its  halls, 
although  business,  generally,  in  the  South  was  quite  fully  interrupted. 

'Anniversary  sermon,  p.  21. 

'This  exception  is  given  in  Sixty  Years  in  the  School  Room,  p.  356,  as  the  school 
established  a  few  years  before  Science  Hill  by  Rev.  Mr.  Fall  at  Nashville,  Tenn. 
The  reference  is  probably  to  Nashville  Female  Academy,  founded  in  1917  (see 
Merriam's  Higher  Education  in  Teimesse,  p.  245). 


232  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

The  school's  original  material  equipment  was  a  private  dwelling 
of  rather  limited  capacity,  and  as  more  suitable  buildings,  furniture, 
and  apparatus  had  to  be  supplied  from  the  profits  of  the  enterprise, 
they  were  only  gradually  acquired.  The  income  was,  however,  soon 
sufficient  to  supply  enlarged  accommodations  and  better  facilities 
for  instruction.  After  a  time  the  buildings  had  to  be  improved 
and  extended  during  every  vacation  to  provide  for  the  increased 
number  of  students,  until  the  equipment  became  ample  in  compari- 
son with  other  similar  institutions.  The  last  important  building 
erected  under  the  old  management  was  a  large  chapel  which  was 
opened  in  1860.  The  course  offered  during  this  early  period  of  the 
school's  history  was  the  common  one  in  vogue  in  female  colleges  in 
the  South,  the  English  branches  constituting  its  basis,  and  making 
with  music  and  art  what  was  then  considered  sufficient  for  a  girl's 
equipment  for  life.  Science  Hill  added  to  these  more  of  natural 
science  than  was  usual  among  schools  for  women. 

Mrs.  Tevis  remained  in  the  school  and,  for  the  most  part,  guided  its 
fortunes  until  just  prior  to  her  death  in  1880.  Dr.  B.  P.  Tevis  had 
for  some  time  previous  been  associated  with  her  in  its  management, 
when,  on  March  25,  1879,  the  fifty-fourth  anniversary  of  its  founda- 
tion, the  proprietorship  of  the  enterprise  was  transferred  to  W.  T. 
Poynter,  D.  D.,  a  member  of  the  Kentucky  Conference.  Mrs.  Tevis 
died  April  21,  1880,  full  of  years,  labors,  and  honors,  having  influ- 
enced for  good  by  her  work  almost  every  section  of  the  South  and 
West,  where,  in  almost  every  city,  village,  and  hamlet,  the  graduates 
of  Science  Hill  are  to  be  found.  She  was  noted  for  her  liberality, 
having  given  free  education,  amounting  to  thousands  of  dollars,  to 
many  poor  deserving  students,  and  otherwise  so  conducted  her  school 
that  it  may  truly  be  said  to  have  been  "a  blessing  to  thousands  of 
pupils,  to  the  church,  and  to  the  country."1  She  was  also  a  great  and 
original  teacher  and  has  been  rarely  equaled  for  dignified  and  finished 
style  of  instruction.  No  record  has  been  kept  of  the  number  of 
alumrse  during  her  administration,  but  this2  may  safely  be  said  to 
have  been  larger  than  that  of  most  private  schools  in  the  country,  or 
of  most  other  Southern  schools  for  girls. 

When  Dr.  Poynter  took  charge  of  the  school  he  changed  the  char- 
acter of  its  work  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  it  distinctively  a  secondary 
school  in  the  fullest  sense  of  that  term,  its  requirements  being  made 
to  conform  with  those  lately  laid  down  by  the  Committee  of  Ten.  He 
also  secured  for  it  during  the  first  year  of  his  administration  a  charter, 
something  it  had  never  possessed  before,  conferring  upon  it  the  usual 
scholastic  powers  and  privileges.  It  is  now  called  an  English  and 
classical  school  for  girls  and  has  become  known  especially  as  a  pre- 

1  Anniversary  sermon,  p.  27. 

-  It  is  known  that  more  than  2,000  pupils  had  been  educated  in  the  school  in  Mr. 
Tevis's  lifetime  and  more  than  3,000  up  to  1875, 


LOGAN   FEMALE    COLLEGE.  233 

paratory  school  to  Wellesley  College,  where  its  graduates  have  main- 
tained an  excellent  standing.  Much  of  its  work  is  still,  however,  of  a 
high  grade  in  comparison  to  that  of  other  female  schools  in  Kentucky, 
and  the  diplomas  it  grants  represent  better  work  than  that  done  in 
many  so-called  colleges.  The  attendance  of  late  years  has  not 
teen  so  large  as  formerly,  but  continues  good  considering  the  multi- 
plicity of  schools  and  the  financial  distress  of  recent  years.  It 
includes,  in  many  instances,  the  daughters  and  even  granddaughters 
of  former  graduates  of  the  institution.  The  library,  scientific  appa- 
ratus, and  other  means  of  instruction  have  been  enlarged  and  other- 
wise kept  up  to  the  requirements  of  modern  education,  and,  as  a  rule, 
only  graduates  of  the  best  Eastern, colleges  have  been  employed  as 
teachers.  Dr.  Poynter  died  July  30,  1896,  in  the  midst  of  a  career  of 
usefulness.  He  had  kept  up  the  reputation  of  Science  Hill  for  doing 
thoroughly  the  work  it  undertakes  to  do.  Since  his  death  Mrs. 
Clara  M.  Poynter,  his  wife,  who  had  been  previously  associated  with 
him  in  the  faculty  as  lady  principal,  has  efficiently  conducted  the 
institution,  which  bids  fair  to  maintain  its  former  position  of  useful- 
ness as  an  educational  factor  in  the  State. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Sixty  Years  in  the  School  Room,  by  Mrs.  Julia  A.  Tevis,  Cincinnati,  1878. 

Sermon  on  the  Fortieth  Anniversary  of  Science  Hill,  by  Rev.  GK  E.  Cunningham, 
Louisville,  1865. 

The  Gospel  Herald,  for  November,  1829. 

The  Southern  School,  for  January,  1896. 

A  History  of  Methodism  in  Kentucky,  by  A.  H.  Redford,  D.  D.,  3  vols.,  Nash- 
ville, 1871. 

Collins's  and  Smith's  History  of  Kentucky. 

Some  additional  information  was  also  given  by  the  late  president,  Dr.  Poynter. 

LOGAN   FEMALE   COLLEGE — RUSSELLVILLE. 

As  early  as  1846  Prof.  William  Wines  founded  a  school  in  Russell- 
ville  for  boys  and  girls,  as  an  individual  enterprise,  to  meet  the  demands 
of  the  local  need  of  higher  education.  Out  of  this  school,  known  as 
"The  Academy,"  by  small  increments  has  grown  Logan  Female  Col- 
lege, with  her  fifty- two  years  of  history,  which  is  practically  continuous, 
although  her  life,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  has  been  temporarily 
suspended,  and  has  at  times  seemed  in  danger  of  being  extinguished. 
Professor  Wines  was  an  excellent  teacher,  and  succeeded  in  building 
up  quite  a  good  school,  in  which  many  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Rus- 
sellville  and  vicinity  either  were  fitted  for  college  or  received  the 
greater  part  of  their  education.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  par- 
ticularly the  late  Ecstein  Norton,  so  long  prominent  in  business  cir- 
cles in  Kentucky  and  New  York  and  a  liberal  patron  of  education, 
and  the  late  Rev.  David  Morton,  D.  D.,  afterwards  so  intimately  con- 
nected with  the  history  and  prosperity  of  Logan  Female  College  and 
noted  in  the  enterprises  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South. 


234  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION    IN   KENTUCKY. 

Equal  advantages  were  offered  in  the  school  to  girls  and  boj^s,  and 
a  large  proportion  of  the  attendance  during  this  early  period  was 
composed  of  girls.  The  desire  to  perpetuate  such  an  institution  in 
their  midst  led  a  number  of  the  citizens  of  Russellville  and  the  sur- 
rounding community  to  organize  a  company  in  1856  and  purchase  the 
property  hitherto  occupied  by  the  school  from  Professor  Wines,  who 
at  that  time  severed  his  connection  with  the  enterprise.  The  amount 
paid  for  the  property  was  $3,500,  raised  by  the  company  in  shares  of 
$100  each. 

Under  the  new  regime,  Rev.  J.  E.  Carnes,  of  Louisville  Conference  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South,  became  principal  of  the  school 
and  remained  at  its  head  for  two  years,  during  which  time  he  seems 
to  have  given  it  a  fair  impetus  for  its  future  career. 

In  1858  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Edward  Stevenson,  D.  D.,  of  the 
same  church,  who,  through  his  ability  and  energy,  did  much  to  build 
up  the  character  of  the  institution  as  an  important  educational  center. 
He  inaugurated  a  plan  for  the  purchase  of  the  property  by  his  church 
and  succeeded  in  raising  the  money  for  this  purpose  from  the  mem- 
bers of  his  denomination.  He  also  secured  several  thousand  dollars 
besides,  which  was  used  in  improving  the  property  generally  and 
making  important  additions  to  the  buildings.  He  obtained  for  the 
institution  in  1860  a  charter  changing  its  name  to  the  Russellville 
Collegiate  Institute  and  granting  it  the  power  of  conferring  diplomas. 
At  the  same  time  it  was  received  regularly  under  the  care  of  the 
Louisville  Conference,  under  whose  patronage  it  has  since  remained. 
The  success  of  the  institute  was  very  great  under  the  vigorous  adminis- 
tration of  Dr.  Stevenson,  even  during  the  civil  war,  but  it  was  much 
disorganized  by  his  long  illness,  resulting  in  his  death  in  1864. 

Rev.  David  Morton  then  became  principal.  He  conducted  the  school 
with  such  success,  took  such  a  prominent  part  in  its  history,  and 
wrought  such  changes  in  its  character  that  he  may  be  denominated 
the  principal  founder  of  the  institution  as  it  exists  to-day.  Although 
the  work  of  the  college  was  seriously  hindered  during  the  first 
part  of  his  administration  because  its  grounds  and  part  of  its  build- 
ings were  occupied  by  Federal  troops  during  the  greater  part  of  two 
years,  yet  he  not  only  managed  to  keep  it  in  operation,  but  even  raised 
some  funds  for  its  improvement.  He  also  began  at  this  juncture  to 
contemplate  the  enlarging  of  the  enterprise  in  both  a  material  and 
educational  way. 

In  1866  a  stock  company,  known  as  the  Logan  Female  College  Com- 
pany, was  organized  and  the  plan  formed  of  erecting  a  large  new 
building  on  a  lot  opposite  the  original  one,  the  principal  part  of  the 
money  for  which  was  raised  by  Dr.  Morton  in  the  fall  and  winter  of 
1867.  The  previous  establishment  in  Russellville  of  Bethel  College, 
an  institution  for  young  men,  by  the  Baptists  of  southern  Kentucky 
having  rendered  the  department  for  boys  and  young  men  in  the  insti- 


LOGAN    FEMALE    COLLEGE.  235 

tute  unnecessary,  it  was  discontinued  and  the  school  limited  to  the 
education  of  girls  only.  Its  curriculum  was  extended,  and  in  1867  a 
new  charter  was  obtained  from  the  legislature  converting  it  into  a  reg- 
ular female  college  under  its  present  title.  Under  this  charter  the 
institution  is  controlled  by  a  board  of  eight  trustees,  elected  partly 
by  the  stockholders  and  partly  by  the  conference.  Conference 
appoints  for  it  annually  a  visiting  committee  of  three  members.  Dr. 
Morton  retired  from  the  active  management  of  the  school  at  the 
close  of  the  next  school  year,  but  remained  for  some  time  its  financial 
agent  and  was  until  1892  one  of  its  trustees.  During  this  time  he 
raised  a  considerable  amount  of  funds  for  its  use  and  otherwise 
contributed  to  its  prosperity. 

In  1868,  when  the  new  charter  went  into  operation,  Rev.  R.  H. 
Rivers,  D.  D.,  became  by  the  appointment  of  conference  the  first 
president  of  Logan  Female  College.  Dr.  Rivers  was  a  teacher  of 
thirty  years'  successful  experience  and  would  doubtless  have  done 
much  toward  building  up  the  institution,  but  at  the  end  of  a  year, 
before  his  administration  had  fairly  gotten  started,  he  was  transferred 
by  his  church  to  other  fields  of  usefulness. 

Rev.  N.  H.  Lee,  D.  D.,  was  appointed  president  upon  the  retire- 
ment of  Dr.  Rivers.  Dr.  Lee  was  a  man  of  high  attainments  and 
enlarged  views  and  was  able  to  successfully  uphold  the  work  of  the 
college  for  four  years.  But  the  financial  panic  of  1873  had  greatly 
delaj7ed  the  collection  of  funds  for  the  new  building,  and  as  the  old 
one  had  been  sold  and  the  new  one  was  not  yet  sufficiently  completed 
to  be  occupied,  the  institution  was  suspended  for  a  year  after  Dr.  Lee 
resigned  its  presidency  in  1873. 

In  1874,  although  the  building  was  yet  incomplete,  the  college  was 
reopened  under  A.  B.  Stark,  LL.  D.,  as  president.  He  was  a  man  of 
broad  culture  and  scholarly  attainments,  and  under  his  management 
the  curriculum  of  the  institution  was  further  extended  and  regularly 
arranged  into  different  schools  of  instruction  in  the  various  depart- 
ments, substantially  as  it  has  since  remained.  The  reputation  of  the 
college  was  during  this  adminstration  considerably  increased,  espe- 
cially by  its  work  in  English  and  Anglo-Saxon,  which  was  of  such  a 
character  as  to  call  forth  encomiums  from  Dr.  Furnival,  of  the  New 
Shakespeare  Society  of  London.  The  attendance  during  this  period 
averaged  about  one  hundred  pupils  annually,  and  considerable  addi- 
tions were  made  to  the  scientific  apparatus,  the  library,  and  other 
means  of  instruction.  A  number  of  additional  rooms  were  also  com- 
pleted in  the  building,  but  the  college  was  by  this  put  somewhat  in 
debt.  Failing  health  compelled  Dr.  Stark  to  resign  in  1883,  when  he 
was  succeeded  by  H.  K.  Taylor,  A.  M.,  as  president. 

Professor  Taylor's  administration  was  energetic  and  prosperous. 
Under  his  management  the  department  of  natural  science  was  much 
emphasized  and  the  work  of  the  college  in  that  direction  much 


236  HISTORY    OP    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

strengthened.  In  1889  Professor  Taylor  retired  from  the  presidency 
of  the  institution  and  A.  G.  Murphey,  A.  M.,  who  had  for  the  last 
three  years  been  connected  with  the  faculty,  was  elected  in  his  stead. 

Professor  Murphey,  who  had  had  a  ripe  experience  in  various  other 
colleges  of  his  church  in  Kentucky,  has  since  remained  in  charge  of  the 
institution,  and  has  been  eminently  successful  in  upholding  its  stand- 
ard of  scholarship  and  otherwise  maintaining  its  reputation.  The 
course  of  instruction,  especially  in  the  departments  of  English  history 
and  music,  has  been  improved,  the  foundations  laid  for  a  larger  and 
better  library,  and  the  facilities  for  teaching  otherwise  enlarged. 

The  debt,  which  had  been  hanging  over  the  institution  for  some 
time,  has  also  been  paid,  and  the  college  building  finally  completed,  at 
a  total  cost  of  about  $30,000.  This  building,  in  its  arrangement,  size, 
and  general  accommodations,  is  probably  the  equal  of  any  similar 
structure  in  the  State.  It  is  situated  in  a  tasteful  campus  containing 
6  acres.  The  average  attendance  during  the  first  five  years  of  Presi- 
dent Murphey's  administration  was  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  students 
each  year,  an  average  somewhat  larger  than  that  of  former  times  and 
wider  in  its  geographical  distribution,  as  many  as  nine  or  ten  of  the 
Southern  and  Western  States  being  represented.  The  attendance 
has  of  late  been  somewhat  reduced  by  the  general  financial  depression, 
but  still  remains  good. 

The  institute  had  sent  out  its  first  graduating  class  of  2  in  1861, 
and  the  college  its  first  class  of  7  in  1869.  There  have  been  up  to 
1898,  inclusive,  185  regular  graduates  in  the  different  courses,  besides 
a  number  upon  whom  special  certificates  have  been  conferred  in 
various  departments.  The  present  graduating  class  of  12  members  is 
the  largest  in  the  history  of  the  institution.  The  present  faculty  is 
composed  of  12  well-trained  teachers.  The  college  curriculum  em- 
braces the  departments  of  Latin,  English,  mathematics,  natural 
science,  history,  Bible  studies,  philosophy,  political  science,  elocution, 
Anglo-Saxon,  Greek,  French,  and  German,  different  combinations  of 
which  lead  to  the  three  degrees  of  bachelor  of  arts,  bachelor,  of 
science,  and  bachelor. of  laws.  There  are,  in  addition,  primary  and 
preparatory  departments  and  departments  of  music  and  art. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

This  sketch  has  been  compiled  almost  entirely  from  catalogues  and  correspond- 
ence, with  some  reference  to  Redford's  Methodism  in  Kentucky  and  Henderson's 
Centennial  Exhibit.  A  few  facts  have  been  taken  from  A  History  of  Education 
in  the  Louisville  Conference,  by  Gross  Alexander,  S.  T.  D. ,  Nashville.  1897,  which 
was  published  after  this  sketch  had  practically  been  completed. 

MILLERSBURG  FEMALE   COLLEGE,  MILLERSBURG. 

The  lineal  predecessor  of  this  institution  may  be  found  in  a  school 
for  girls  opened  in  Millersburg  in  1849  or  1850  by  Col.  Thornton  F. 
Johnson.  Colonel  Johnson  had  for  a  number  of  years  previously 


MILLERSBURG  FEMALE  COLLEGE.  237 

taught  at  Georgetown,  Ky.,  and  later  had  established,  first  at  George- 
town and  then  at  Blue  Lick  Springs,  a  private  military  academy. 
This  was  a  novel  enterprise  in  this  country,  in  conducting  which  he 
had  been  assisted  by  James  G.  Elaine,  then  quite  a  young  man,  but  des- 
tined to  become  subsequently  so  famous  in  American  political  history. 
The  school  at  Millersburg  was  founded  to  supply  the  need  of  better 
facilities  for  the  higher  education  of  girls  in  the  immediate  commu- 
nity and  the  adjoining  section  of  Kentucky,  and  was  first  conducted 
in  the  building  of  the  Christian  Church.  In  this  school  Colonel  John- 
son was  assisted  by  three  sisters,  the  Misses  Stanwood,  one  of  whom 
afterwards  became  the  wife  of  Mr.  Elaine.  The  school  was  soon 
transferred  from  the  church  to  the  Batterson  residence,  which  had 
been  purchased  for  it  and  which  was  located  on  the  site  of  the  present 
college  buildings. 

In  1852  Rev.  John  Milller,  M.  D.,  then  pastor  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  South,  in  Millersburg,  bought  the  property  and 
changed  its  character  by  making  the  school  coeducational.  Dr.  Mil- 
ler conducted  it  for  two  years  as  principal,  when  he  retired  on  account 
of  poor  health,  and  the  institution  passed,  in  1854,  into  the  hands  of 
Rev.  George  S.  Savage,  M.  D.,  a  well-known  and  able  teacher  of  sev- 
eral years'  experience. 

Dr.  Savage,  assisted  by  his  wife,  also  an  excellent  teacher,  con- 
ducted the  school  successfully  for  several  years  as  a  mixed,  common, 
and  high  school,  under  the  name  of  Millersburg  Male  and  Female 
Collegiate  Institute.  When,  in  1857,  under  the  leadership,  princi- 
pally, of  Rev.  T.  P.  Shellman,  the  plan  of  establishing  a  college  for  the 
Kentucky  conference  was  originated,  the  aim  at  first  seems  to  have 
been  to  convert  Dr.  Savage's  school  into  the  proposed  institution. 
But  when  it  was  decided  to  make  the  new  college  exclusively  male, 
and  it  was  opened  in  the  fall  of  1859,  as  the  precursor  of  what  is  now 
Kentucky  Wesleyan  College,  the  original  school  was  made  exclusively 
female  and  its  name  changed  to  Millersburg  Female  College  by  a 
charter  obtained  for  it  on  February  20,  1860,  which  granted  to  it  the 
power  of  conferring  the  usual  degrees.  The  buildings,  which  were 
not  showy,  but  ample,  were  at  that  time  thoroughly  refitted  and  its 
previous  course  considerably  extended.  The  institution  was  origi- 
nally and  still  remains  entirely  a  private  enterprise,  but  is,  in  a  gen- 
eral way,  under  the  patronage  of  Kentucky  conference,  which 
annualty  appoints  a  visiting  committee  to  inspect  its  work. 

Dr.  Savage  remained  at  the  head  of  the  institution  until  1866,  when 
he  retired  from  its  presidency  on  account  of  ill  health,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Prof.  J.  W.  Hamilton.  Dr.  Savage  has  since,  for  many 
years,  been  the  efficient  general  agent  of  the  Americal  Bible  Society 
for  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  The  general  prosperity  of  the  college 
during  his  administration  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  its  attendance 
averaged  from  150  to  200  students  yearly  during  this  period,  and 


238  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

although  its  patronage  was  somewhat  reduced,  its  operations  were  not 
interrupted  nor  its  success  materially  impaired  by  the  civil  war. 
During  the  war,  on  account  of  the  suspension  of  Kentucky  Wesleyan 
College,  a  number  of  boys  were  received  as  students,  its  old  plan  of 
coeducation  thus  being  temporarily  restored.  The  school  had  origi- 
nally a  very  good  course  for  the  time,  and  its  extension  under  Dr. 
Savage  made  it  the  equal  of  that  usually  offered  at  female  colleges  in 
the  South,  a  standard  which  has  since  been  maintained.  The  instruc- 
tion given  has  also  been  modernized  as  the  times  have  demanded. 
A  normal  department  was  established  as  early  as  1862. 

Profes  or  Hamilton  held  the  presidency  of  the  college  only  three 
years,  after  which  for  several  years  there  were  a  number  of  changes  in 
its  proprietorship,  Professor  Hamilton  being  succeeded  by  Prof.  J.  A. 
Brown,  and  Judge  William  H.  Savage  taking  Professor  Brown's  place 
in  1870.  In  1872  Rev.  George  T.  Gould,  A.  M.,  was  associated  with 
Judge  Savage  in  the  control  of  the  institution,  and  in  1874  Rev.  H.  W. 
Abbett,  A.  M.,  was  added  to  the  management.  In  1875  Judge  Savage 
severed  his  connection  with  the  institution,  which  was  conducted  by 
professors  Gould  and  Abbett  jointly  until  1877,  when  Professor  Gould 
became  sole  proprietor,  remaining  so  until  1884.  During  this  period 
of  the  institution's  history,  especially  under  Professor  Gould's  admin- 
istration, its  scope  was  considerably  enlarged  and  its  teaching  force 
materially  increased,  the  aim  being,  as  stated  in  its  catalogues,  to 
make  of  it  a  polytechnic  institute,  with  a  course  ranging  from  a  pri- 
mary department  to  a  college  course  of  good  compass,  and  including 
the  usual  ornamental  branches,  and  normal  and  commercial  depart- 
ments. Its  patronage  was  also  considerably  increased  during  this 
time,  rising  to  229  students  in  1881-82,  as  many  as  13  States  being 
at  times  represented  in  its  matriculation. 

On  December  29,  1878,  the  school  met  with  the  misfortune  of  hav- 
ing its  principal  building,  including  all  of  its  furniture  and  educa- 
tional appliances  generally,  destroyed  by  fire.  Professor  Gould's 
energy  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  not  a  single  day's  exercises  were 
interrupted  by  this  calamity.  New  quarters,  with  the  necessary  equip- 
ments, were  rented  and  the  school's  affairs  proceeded  as  if  nothing  very 
unusual  had  happened.  With  the  aid  of  the  insurance  on  the  old 
building  and  a  moderate  subscription,  secured  from  the  citizens  of 
Millersburg  and  vicinity,  a  new  and  more  commodious  building  was  at 
once  begun,  and  was  completed  and  occupied  in  June,  1879.  The  new 
structure  is  a  large  three-story  brick  building  with  all  the  modern 
improvements,  and  furnishes  accommodations  for  150  boarders.  Pres- 
ident Gould  was,  however,  unable  to  overcome  the  financial  loss  due 
to  the  fire,  and  so  was  forced  to  relinquish  the  proprietorship  of  the 
college  in  1884,  when  he  was  succeeded  in  its  presidency  by  Rev. 
Morris  Evans,  D.  D.,  who,  however,  remained  only  one  year. 

In  September,  1885,  Rev.  Cadesman  Pope,  who  had  previously  pur- 


BETHEL  FEMALE  COLLEGE.  239 

chased  the  property,  took  charge  of  the  college.  He  associated  with 
himself  in  its  faculty  two  veteran  teachers — Mrs.  S.  C.  Truehart,  for 
the  past  thirteen  years  principal  of  Stanford  Female  College,  and 
Prof.  A.  G.  Murphey,  who  had  had  many  years'  experience  in  Ken- 
tucky Wesleyan  College  and  other  institutions.  The  general  scope 
of  the  institution  was  also  considerably  broadened  and  its  work  other- 
wise strengthened,  so  that  it  may  be  fairly  said  to  rank  among  the 
best  female  colleges  of  the  State.  The  course  has  been  subsequently 
arranged  on  a  more  distinctively  collegiate  basis,  the  branches  of 
instruction  being  classed  under  different  schools,  and  the  faculty  has 
been  considerably  enlarged.  The  patronage  of  the  institution  during 
the  greater  part  of  Rev.  Mr.  Pope's  administration  was  quite  as  good 
as  at  any  former  period  in  the  history  of  the  college,  and  was  wider 
than  ever  before,  extending  as  it  did  from  Virginia  to  Texas  and  from 
Florida  to  Illinois. 

In  July,  1897,  Mr.  Pope  retired  from  the  management  of  the  institu- 
tion, and  Rev.  C.  C.  Fisher,  A.  M.,  who  had  previously  become  its 
proprietor  by  purchase,  assumed  its  presidency.  Professor  Fisher  is  a 
graduate  of  Emory  and  Henry  College,  and  has  had  a  number  of  years' 
experience  as  a  teacher  in  high  schools  and  colleges.  His  aim  has 
been  to  maintain  the  school's  former  high  ideal  of  female  education. 
Upon  his  accession  the  buildings  were  largely  refitted  and  the  equip- 
ment of  the  school  otherwise  materially  improved.  The  present 
faculty  of  the  college  is  composed  of  13  teachers,  who  by  their  expe- 
rience and  ability  should  be  well  calculated  to  perpetuate  its  former 
usefulness. 

Millersburg  Female  College  has  almost  every  year  since  1857  sent 
forth  from  1  to  17  graduates,  so  that  her  alumnje  in  1898  numbered 
339,  many  of  whom  have  distinguished  themselves,  especially  as 
musicians  and  teachers. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Perrin's  History  of  Bourbon,  Scott,  Harrison,  and  Nicholas  Counties.  Hender- 
son's Centennial  Exhibit.  The  information  obtained  from  these  has  been  materi- 
ally enlarged  by  that  obtained  from  catalogues,  and  that  furnished  by  President 
Pope  and  Miss  Ella  Fleming,  of  Millersburg. 

BETHEL   FEMALE   COLLEGE,  HOPKINSVILLE. 

The  Baptists  of  Hopkinsville  appear  as  early  as  1851  to  have  plan- 
ned for  a  female  school  to  be  conducted  under  their  auspices,  as  is 
shown  by  the  charter  secured  that  year  for  the  Baptist  Female  Insti- 
tute. The  scope  of  the  enterprise  seems,  however,  to  have  been 
widened,  and  the  present  Bethel  Female  College  is  the  culmination 
of  the  desire,  not  only  of  the  Baptists  of  Hopkinsville,  but  of  Bethel 
Association,  to  foster  female  education.  This  association,  from  which 
the  college  takes  its  name,  embraces  in  its  territory  a  considerable 


240  HISTORY    OP    HIGHER   EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

part  of  southwestern  Kentucky  and  a  portion  of  Tennessee.  The 
movement  for  the  proposed  school  began  to  take  shape  in  1854,  when 
John  P.  Campbell,  A.  D.  Sears,  Shandy  Holland,  L.  L.  Leavell,  A. 
Palmer,  S.  D.  Buckner,  H.  A.  Phelps,  E.  B.  Richardson,  and  E.  Y. 
Vaughan  were  appointed  its  trustees.  This  board  of  trustees  includes 
the  names  of  those  who  were  probabty  mainly  instrumental  in  pro- 
moting the  enterprise,  and  who  largely  looked  after  it  in  its  incipiency. 

Steps  were  soon  taken  to  raise  funds  for  its  inauguration,  and  a 
charter  was  secured  for  it  on  March  9, 1854,  under  the  name  of  Bethel 
High  School.  It  was  decided  to  locate  the  school  in  Hopkinsville,  and 
a  plan  for  a  building  for  it  was  proposed  by  the  trustees  as  early  as 
April  21,  1854,  but  the  money  for  the  building,  which  came  mainly 
from  local  and  associational  sources,  seems  to  have  been  collected 
rather  slowly,  so  that  its  erection  was  not  ordered  by  the  trustees  until 
September  18,  1854.  The  corner  stone  of  this  building  was  laid  with 
Masonic  ceremonies  on  April  7,  1855,  but  it  was  not  entirely  finished 
until  the  early  part  of  1857,  although  it  was  occupied  b}^  the  school 
for  some  time  before  that  date.  It  is  constructed  of  brick;  has  three 
stories  and  a  basement,  with  a  frontage  of  80  feet  and  a  depth  of  50 
feet,  and  cost,  when  completed,  about  $30,000.  It  is  situated  in  the 
midst  of  handsome  and  spacious  grounds. 

The  trustees,  in  the  summer  of  1854,  had  outlined  a  course  of 
instruction  which  they  declared  should  be  "that  of  the  best  female 
seminaries  of  the  South  and  West,"  and  on  July  17  of  that  year 
appointed  W.  W.  Rossington  as  professor  of  music  in  the  school.  It 
does  not  appear  whether  or  not  Professor  Rossington  ever  taught  in 
the  present  building,  but  he  is  the  first  teacher  ever  regularly  appointed 
to  a  position  in  the  school.  While  its  building  was  being  prepared 
for  occupanc}7  its  principalship  was  offered  successively  to  Joseph 
Warder  and  R.  L.  Thurman,  each  of  whom,  for  some  reason,  declined 
it.  The  board  had,  by  resolution,  determined  to  look  for  a  presiding 
officer  "of  preeminent  classical  training"  and  to  make  Bethel  Female 
High  School  "  equal  to  any  female  college  in  the  Southwest."  Finally, 
on  July  9,  1856,  W.  F.  Hill  was  elected  principal  for  a  term  of  years, 
and  the  school  was  opened  in  the  fall  of  that  year  under  his  manage- 
ment, although  its  building  was  yet  incomplete. 

Professor  Hill  remained  in  charge  of  the  institution  only  one  year, 
being  succeeded  on  June  16,  1857,  by  Prof.  J.  W.  Rust,  who  remained 
at  its  head  until  it  was  suspended  by  the  civil  war,  and  who  may  be 
said,  more  than  any  other  man,  to  have  established  its  reputation  for 
good  scholarship  and  excellent  discipline.  During  all  the  early  years 
its  successful  operation  was  much  hindered  lay  a  lack  of  funds,  to 
secure  which  a  number  of  agents  were  at  different  times  appointed  by 
Bethel  Association.  The  one  who  appears  mainly  to  have  at  last  put 
the  institution  on  its  feet  financially  is  Rev.  J.  M.  Burnett. 

In  1858,  at  the  instance  of  Bethel  Association,  the  school  was  placed 


BETHEL    FEMALE    COLLEGE.  241 

tinder  the  control  of  Green  River  Educational  Convention,  and  it  was 
rechartered  under  the  name  of  Bethel  Female  College.  The  new 
plan  of  management  was,  however,  found  to  be  unsatisfactory,  and 
after  a  time  the  new  charter  was  repealed,  and  the  school  has  since 
been  operated,  until  recent  years,  under  its  original  charter,  although 
still  retaining  in  popular  usage  the  name  of  college.  Professor  Rust 
was  able  to  conduct  the  school  with  such  success  that  considerable 
improvements  were  made  from  its  accumulated  income  in  1860.  The 
war,  however,  cut  off  a  large  part  of  its  patronage  and  otherwise  so 
interfered  with  its  operation  that  Professor  Rust  found  it  necessary 
to  resign  on  August  17,  1863,  after  which  for  several  months  its  work 
was  suspended.  During  this  suspension  its  building  seems,  at  least 
temporarily,  to  have  been  occupied  by  the  Federal  military  authori- 
ties, as  is  shown  by  a  protest  recorded  in  the  minutes  of  the  board  of 
trustees  against  their  use  of  it  for  a  dance. 

In  March,  1864,  the  school  was  reopened  by  Rev.  T.  G.  Keene,  who 
at  first  bore  the  title  simply  of  professor,  but  became  principal  the 
next  year  and  remained  so  until  June,  1866.  The  prosperity  of  the 
institution  revived  during  his  administration,  in  the  latter  part  of 
which  his  efforts  were  ably  seconded  by  those  of  Rev.  M.  G.  Alex- 
ander, who  became  his  successor.  Professor  Alexander  retained  the 
principalship  until  July,  1868,  when  he  entered  other  fields  of  useful- 
ness, and  Rev.  J.  F.  Dagg  was  elected  as  his  successor.  Professor 
Dagg  successfully  conducted  the  enterprise  until  his  resignation,  in 
1874,  when  the  position  of  principal  was  again  tendered  to  Prof.  J. 
W.  Rust,  who  had  been  at  its  head  from  1857  to  1863  and  had  been 
president  of  Bethel  College,  at  Russellville,  from  1864  to  1868. 

Professor  Rust,  who  had  been  recuperating  his  health  for  the  past 
six  years,  accepted  the  position  upon  the  condition  that  about  $6,000 
be  spent  in  repairing  and  improving  the  school  property.  He  entered 
upon  his  new  administration  with  vigor  and  soon  had  the  prosperity 
of  the  school  well  established.  Professor  Rust  remained  in  charge  of 
the  institution  until  his  death,  in  1890,  and,  in  the  language  of  its 
board  of  trustees,  is  said  to  deserve  the  thanks  of  the  board  and  of 
the  association  for  the  energetic  and  skillful  manner  in  which  he 
managed  it  and  kept  it  alive.  He  was  "an  efficient  and  successful 
educator,  possessing  energy,  enthusiasm,  tact,  and  fidelity."  Under 
his  management  the  college  had  a  faculty  of  from  six  to  ten  teachers 
and  an  average  attendance  of  something  over  one  hundred  students 
each  year.  Its  course  of  study  had  been  outlined  by  a  committee  of 
Bethel  Association,  consisting  of  Rev.  George  Hunt  and  W.  B.  Walker, 
in  1866,  and  had  been  divided  into  the  five  departments  of  languages, 
mathematics,  mental  and  moral  science,  and  belles-lettres,  natural 
science,  and  fine  arts.  This  course  was  carried  out  by  Professor  Rust 
in  such  a  way  as  to  attain  an  excellent  standard  of  scholarship. 

For  about  a  year  after  the  death  of  Professor  Rust  no  one  was 
2127— No.  25 16 


242  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

elected  to  the  vacant  presidency.  In  January,  1891,  the  position  was 
tendered  to  Rev.  T.  S.  McCall,  M.  A.,  for  the  past  two  j^ears  the  suc- 
cessful president  of  Liberty  Female  College,  at  Glasgow,  Ky.  Profes- 
sor McCall  accepted  soon  afterwards,  and  took  charge  of  the  institu- 
tion in  the  following  summer,  the  college  building  having  meanwhile 
been  enlarged,  improved,  and  refurnished,  at  a  cost  of  about  $9,000. 
In  the  spring  of  1890  a  new  charter  had  been  secured  for  the  school, 
changing  its  name  to  Bethel  Female  College,  a  name  it  had  really 
borne  before  the  public  since  1858,  and  granting  to  it  the  power  to 
confer  the  usual  collegiate  degrees.  As  this  charter  was  granted 
shortly  before  Professor  Rust's  death,  he  thus  became  the  first  regular 
president  of  the  college,  but  Professor  McCall  was  the  first  one  to 
enter  upon  his  duties  under  that  title.  President  McCall  maintained 
the  former  standard  of  the  school  during  his  administration  of  five 
years,  ending  in  June,  1896. 

Soon  after  the  resignation  of  Professor  McCall  had  been  tendered 
and  accepted,  in  the  spring  of  1896,  Rev.  Edmund  Harrison,  A.  M., 
was  elected  president,  and  the  office  of  vice-president  created,  to 
which  his  son,  W.  H.  Harrison,  M.  A.,  was  elected.  President  Har- 
rison had  been  for  a  number  of  years  a  professor  in  Richmond  Col- 
lege, Virginia,  while  his  son  had  had  considerable  experience  as  an 
educator.  The  new  administration  took  charge  in  the  summer  of 
1896.  Its  first  two  years  argue  well  for  the  future  growth  and 
improvement  of  the  institution.  The  course  of  instruction  has  been 
modeled  upon  that  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  the  aim  is  to 
make  it  equal  to  that  of  any  of  the  male  colleges  in  the  State,  parallel 
degrees  to  those  granted  by  them  being  offered. 

Bethel  Female  High  School  sent  out  its  first  graduating  class,  of 
seven  members,  in  1858,  but  did  not  graduate  a  much  larger  one  for 
many  years  afterwards,  excellence  of  scholarship  rather  than  num- 
bers, it  seems,  being  aimed  at  by  her  in  granting  diplomas.  Her 
alumna?  altogether  number  167.  Bethel  Association  has  mainly 
furnished  the  means  to  build  the  institution  and  equip  it  fairly  well 
for  its  work,  but  has  never  granted  it  the  endowment  so  much  needed 
for  greater  efficiency.  Various  appeals  for  an  endowment  have  at 
different  times  been  made  by  Professor  Rust  and  others  interested  in 
the  welfare  of  the  college,  but  have  so  far  met  with  only  an  indiffer- 
ent response  on  the  part  of  the  association.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the 
movement,  which  is  still  being  agitated  by  the  friends  of  the  institu- 
tion, will  be  more  successful  in  the  future. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

The  minutes  of  the  board  of  trustees.     (These  are  quite  complete  and  have  been 
carefully  examined  ) 
Perrin's  History  of  Christian  County. 
Spenser's  History  of  the  Baptists  of  Kentucky. 
Cathcart's  Baptist  Encyclopedia. 
The  Russellville  Herald  of  June  10,  1891. 


BEAUMONT    COLLEGE.  243 

BEAUMONT   COLLEGE,   HARRODSBURG. 

Beaumont  College  is  the  successor,  in  location  and  at  least  in  the 
major  part  of  its  equipment,  of  Daughters'  College,  one  of  the  oldest 
and  for  a  long  time  one  of  the  most  prominent  female  colleges  of 
Kentucky  and  the  Southwest,  and  therefore  worthy  of  having  some 
account  given  of  its  history. 

DAUGHTERS'  COLLEGE. 

This  institution  was  almost  entirely  the  work  of  one  man,  as  it  was 
established  and  successfully  conducted  for  nearly  forty  years  by  John 
Augustus  Williams,  A.  M.,  LL.  D.,  its  president  during  practically 
its  entire  history.  President  Williams,  who  is  still  living  and  who  has 
been  for  many  years  a  prominent  minister  of  the  Christian  Church, 
had  graduated  from  Bacon  College  in  1843,  when  only  19  years 
old,  and  subsequently  devoted  himself  mainly  to  teaching,  for  which 
he  had  a  special  talent.  After  several  years'  successful  experience 
in  his  profession,  he  in  1851  established  Christian  College,  at  Colum- 
bia, Mo. ,  which  was  very  prosperous  under  his  management  for  five 
years.  However,  in  1856  he  resolved  to  return  to  his  native  State,  and 
accordingly  purchased  Greenville  Springs,  a  beautiful  estate  of  some 
30  acres,  formerly  noted  as  a  watering  place,  located  near  Harrods- 
burg,  Ky.,  where  in  September  of  that  year  he  opened  Daughters' 
College  for  the  education  of  young  women,  as  its  name  implies.  The 
buildings  of  the  Springs  were  commodious  and  well  adapted  to  edu- 
cational purposes,  and  the  location  was  excellent  and  otherwise  well 
suited  for  the  establishment  of  such  an  institution.  A  charter  was 
secured  for  the  enterprise  in  the  summer  of  1856,  conferring  upon  the 
proposed  college  all  the  usual  powers  and  privileges.  Professor  Wil- 
liains's  father,  Dr.  C.  E.  Williams,  was  a  joint  proprietor  of  the  school, 
and  remained  a  business  partner  for  many  years,  but  its  educational 
work  was  from  the  first  under  the  exclusive  management  of  Professor 
Williams,  who  was  the  president  of  its  faculty.  This  faculty  was  an 
able  and  experienced  one  from  the  beginning,  and  the  course  of 
instruction  offered  was  excellent,  especially  in  comparison  with  that 
usually  given  in  female  colleges.  It  included  the  following  depart- 
ments: Philosophy,  English  language  and  literature,  mathematics, 
natural  science,  history,  ancient  and  modern  languages,  the  school  of 
the  Bible,  and  the  school  of  fine  arts. 

At  the  opening  of  the  college  all  the  rooms  of  its  building  then 
available  were  filled  within  a  week,  and  its  prosperity  was  uninter- 
rupted for  a  long  period,  excepting  two  years  during  the  civil  war,  and 
even  then  its  patronage  was  not  greatly  reduced.  Professor  Williams's 
popularity  as  a  teacher  is  well  attested  by  the  fact  that  fifty  or  more 
of  his  former  pupils  had  followed  him  from  Missouri  to  Kentucky  at 
the  establishment  of  the  college.  In  1865  he  was  induced  to  accept 


244  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

the  chair  of  moral  and  mental  philosophy  in  Kentucky  University  at 
Lexington,  where,  in  1866,  as  its  first  presiding  officer,  he  did  much 
toward  organizing  the  work  of  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Col- 
lege, but  in  1868  he  resumed  the  presidency  of  Daughters'  College, 
which  he  then  retained  continuously  throughout  its  remaining  history. 
In  1892,  on  account  of  ill  health,  he  retired  from  the  profession  of 
teaching,  and  Daughters'  College,  as  it  had  been  formerly  constituted, 
was  suspended,  the  name  and  good  will  of  the  institution  being  re- 
tained by  Professor  Williams  with  a  view  to  reopening  in  the  future 
should  his  strength  permit.  Professor  Williams  has  been  instru- 
mental in  molding  the  education  of  many  young  women  throughout 
the  South,  as  the  patronage  of  his  school  was  comparatively  large, 
and  in  many  years  represented  most  of  the  Southern  States.  Its 
graduates  numbered  from  2  to  17  each  year  after  1857,  and  altogether 
amounted  to  about  350,  coming  from  as  many  as  26  of  the  Southern 
and  Western  States.  The  college  early  developed  a  pedagogical 
tendency,  having  soon  a  regular  normal  department  added  to  its 
course  of  instruction,  and  became  noted  for  the  large  number  of  suc- 
cessful teachers  it  produced,  more  than  one-third  of  all  its  graduates 
having  devoted  themselves,  more  or  less,  to  this  profession. 

BEAUMONT   COLLEGE. 

After  two  unsuccessful  attempts  had  been  made  to  establish  a  new 
institution  upon  the  foundation  of  Daughters'  College  the  property 
formerly  occupied  by  it  was  purchased  in  July,  1894,  by  Th.  Smith, 
A.  M.,  who  opened  in  its  buildings,  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  a  new 
educational  enterprise  under  the  name  of  Beaumont  College.  The 
new  school  was  incorporated  under  the  general  laws  of  the  State  in 
April,  1895,  with  full  power  to  confer  degrees.  Professor  Smith  is  an 
alumnus  of  the  University  of  Virginia  and  a  teacher  of  many  years' 
successful  experience  in  Georgetown  College,  Kentucky,  and  else- 
where. His  aim  has  been  to  have  Beaumont  College  do  more  distinc- 
tively university  work  than  is  usually  attempted  in  at  least  most  of 
the  female  colleges  of  the  South.  To  this  end,  the  former  Daughters' 
College  curriculum  has  been  considerably  widened,  especially  in  the 
departments  of  ancient  and  modern  languages  and  higher  mathematics, 
and  a  strong  faculty  has  been  employed,  several  of  whom  are  promi- 
nent specialists.  Special  stress  has  also  been  put  upon  the  school  of 
music,  which  employs  only  graduates  of  the  best  conservatories,  while 
the  former  normal  and  business  courses  have  been  retained.  The 
new  college  has  ample  apparatus  and  a  well-selected  reference  library. 
It  is,  however,  like  Daughters'  College,  still  purely  an  individual 
enterprise  and  lacks  that  endowment  which  would  enable  it  to  enlarge 
its  operations  and  extend  its  field  of  usefulness.  It  has,  nevertheless, 
acquired  considerable  prestige  in  the  past  four  years  and  is  widening 
its  patronage,  drawing  its  students  from  a  number  of  States  outside 
of  Kentucky. 


SAYRE    FEMALE    INSTITUTE.  245 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

On  Daughters'  College:  The  Biographical  Encyclopedia  of  Kentucky;  Mrs. 
Daviess's  History  of  Mercer  and  Boyle  Counties;  Henderson's  CentenDial  Exhibit: 
The  Disciple  of  Christ  (Cincinnati)  for  July  1,  1884;  The  Kentucky  Craftsman 
(Lexington)  for  August,  1895. 

The  account  of  Beaumont  College  is  based  entirely  on  catalogues  and  corre- 
spondence. 

SAYRE  FEMALE  INSTITUTE,   LEXINGTON. 

This  school  has  long  held  an  excellent  rank  among  the  institutions 
for  the  higher  education  of  women  in  Kentucky.  It  owes  its  existence 
to  the  munificence  of  David  A.  Sayre,  of  Lexington,  after  whom  it  is 
named.  Mr.  Sayre  had  come  to  Lexington  from  New  Jersey  in  1811, 
when  quite  a  young  man.  From  absolute  poverty  he  had,  by  thrift 
and  economy,  become  a  banker  as  early  as  1829,  and  subsequently 
amassed  large  wealth,  a  considerable  part  of  which  was  devoted  to  the 
use  of  public  institutions  connected  with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  of 
which  he  was  a  member.  He  became  interested  in  educational  mat- 
ters largely  through  the  influence  of  his  wife,  who  had  been  a  teacher, 
and  who  still  retained  an  enthusiastic  interest  for  the  profession,  and 
determined  to  establish  in  Lexington  a  first-class  school  for  girls, 
whose  benefits  should  be  as  widely  distributed  as  possible. 

The  institute  which  bears  his  name  was  accordingly  organized 
November  1,  1854,  under  Rev.  H.  V.  D.  Nevins  as  principal.  It  was 
first  located  on  the  corner  of  Mill  and  Church  streets,  and  was  then 
called  Transylvania  Female  Seminary.  On  October  1,  1855,  it  was 
moved  to  its  present  location  on  Limestone  street,  near  the  center  of 
the  city,  which  had  been  purchased  and  specially  prepared  for  it  by 
Mr.  Sayre,  after  whom  it  was  then  named.  On  March  10, 1856,  it  was 
chartered  under  its  present  title,  with  general  power  to  confer  collegi- 
ate degrees.  According  to  this  new  charter  the  institution  is  man- 
aged by  a  board  of  13  self -perpetuating  trustees,  of  whom  the  mayor 
and  city  judge  of  Lexington  are  ex  oificio  members.  Its  property  can 
never  be  used  for  anything  else  except  the  education  of  girls,  and  ail 
its  income  must  be  used  either  to  increase  its  facilities  for  instruction 
or  to  add  to  the  number  of  its  beneficiary  pupils.  A  moderate  rate  of 
tuition  is  charged  by  the  school  for  its  benefits  in  the  case  of  most  of 
its  pupils,  but  it  offers  a  free  scholarship  to  one  pupil  from  each  of  the 
public  schools  of  Lexington  each  year,  and  besides  this,  grants  gra- 
tuitous instruction  to  many  deserving  students.  Its  course  includes 
all  grades  from  a  primary  department  to  collegiate  work  of  good  com- 
pass. It  is  conducted  under  Presbyterian  auspices,  although  iion- 
sectarian  in  management. 

Mr.  Nevins  remained  at  the  head  of  the  school  until  1859,  when 
Prof.  S.  R.  Williams  became  his  successor.  Professor  Williams  con- 
ducted the  enterprise  with  success  until  his  death  in  June,  1869, 
although  part  of  the  time  was  the  disturbed  period  of  the  civil  war. 


246  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

Prof.  James  Dinwiddie  took  charge  in  1869,  but  remained  only  one 
year,  being  succeeded  in  June,  1870,  by  the  present  efficient  principal, 
Maj.  H.  B.  McClellan.1  In  September  of  that  year  occurred  the  death 
of  Mr.  Sayre,  who  had  carefully  watched  over  the  interests  of  the 
institution  since  its  inception.  He  left  to  it  in  perpetuity  its  excellent 
building  and  fine  grounds,  the  latter  including  about  5  acres.  He 
had  added  other  gifts  during  his  life,  making  his  total  donations  about 
$100,000,  and  furnishing  the  school  an  equipment  which  was  one  of 
the  best  of  its  kind  in  the  South.  He  had  been  its  sole  founder  and 
its  only  benefactor  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  In  the  latter  part  of 
1870  his  nephew,  Mr.  E.  D.  Sayre,  expended  about  $3,000  in  improv- 
ing the  property,  and  his  sister,  Mrs.  Priscilla  Cromey,  who  died  in 
1877,  bequeathed  to  it  $10,000,  of  which,  however,  it  received  only 
$5,000,  owing  to  a  contest  over  her  will. 

Major  McClellan,  during  an  administration  which  has  lasted  twenty- 
eight  years,  has  had  a  large  measure  of  success  in  the  management  of 
the  institute,  and  has  made  it  eminently  useful  as  an  educational  fac- 
tor in  Kentucky  and  the  South  especially.  The  attendance,  which 
had  been  60  in  1868-69,  was  80  in  1870-71,  and  119  in  1872-73.  By 
this  time  the  school  had  outgrown  its  original  quarters,  and  an  enlarge- 
ment and  improvement  of  its  buildings  were  necessary.  This  was 
done  between  1872  and  1875,  at  a  cost  of  $13,000,  the  chapel  being 
enlarged  and  additional  rooms  for  boarding  pupils  provided. 

In  1886-87  about  $10,000  more  was  expended  in  adding  a  new  reci- 
tation room  and  furnishing  improved  heating  apparatus  and  other 
modern  appliances.  Of  these  amounts  $15,000  came  from  the  income 
of  the  institution,  the  rest  being  derived  from  the  gift  of  Mr.  E.  D. 
Sayre  and  the  bequest  of  Mrs.  Cromey.  A  valuable  reference  library 
and  a  good  collection  of  scientific  apparatus  constitute  part  of  the 
general  equipment  of  the  institution,  which  has  been  kept  up  well 
with  the  times,  as  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  Principal  McClellan 
was  prepared,  in  1896,  to  verify  Professor  Roentgen's  X-ray  experi- 
ments within  five  days  after  the  discovery  had  been  announced. 

The  enlarged  accommodations  made  possible  a  larger  patronage, 
which  speedily  came,  there  being  197  pupils  in  1875-76,  and  an  aver- 
age of  about  230  yearly  between  1873  and  1893,  the  highest  number 
being  305  in  1890-91.  The  faculty  during  this  period  numbered  from 
8  to  14  teachers.  The  present  faculty  contains  10  teachers.  Since 
the  panic  of  1893  the  average  attendance  has  been  about  130.  The 
students  come  mainly  from  Kentucky  and  other  Southern  States. 
The  graduating  class  of  1856,  which  was  the  first  one  to  go  out, 
numbered  11  members,  and  since  then  it  has  sent  out  almost  every 
year  a  class  of  from  1  to  20.  The  alumnae  now  number  altogether 
415,  and  are  scattered  over  20  of  the  Southern  and  Western  States. 

1  Major  McClellan,  besides  being  a  prominent  educator,  is  the  author  of  the 
Life  and  Campaigns  of  Maj.  Gen.  J.  E.  B.  Stuart. 


CALDWELL    COLLEGE.  247 

The  school  has  power  to  confer  all  the  regular  college  degrees,  but 
has  chosen  only  to  grant  diplomas  in  two  courses  called  regular  and 
English.  The  latter  of  these  embraces  the  elements  of  a  well-rounded 
English  education,  while  the  former  includes,  in  addition,  a  compre- 
hensive course  in  Latin  or  one  of  the  modern  languages.  The  insti- 
tute has  furnished  a  large  proportion  of  the  successful  teachers  of 
Lexington  and  Fayette  County,  and  has  given  much  free  tuition  to 
those  and  others,  the  amount  so  bestowed  between  1870  and  1889  hav- 
ing been  estimated1  to  be  as  much  as  $10,000.  It  has,  under  Major 
McClellan's  management,  been  brought  up  to  a  high  standard  of  use- 
fulness and  exerted  a  wholesome  influence  in  behalf  of  an  excellent 
standard  of  scholarship.  The  financial  foundation  granted  to  it  by 
Mr.  Say  re  places  before  it  the  prospect  of  widening  and  extending  its 
influence  for  good  in  the  future. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Collins's  History  of  Kentucky. 

Peter's  History  of  Fayette  County. 

Henderson's  Centennial  Exhibit. 

Lexington  Press  Transcript  of  February  18,  1895. 

Newspaper  clipping  of  1889. 

CALDWELL   COLLEGE,  DANVILLE. 

Schools  for  girls  were  early  established  in  Danville,  the  first  one  of 
any  note  being  one  founded  by  Rev.  J.  K.  Burch,  for  a  time  a  professor 
in  a  theological  department  attached  to  Center  College.  None  of  these 
schools,  however,  had  a  first-class  equipment,  and  their  duration  was, 
as  a  rule,  short.  The  community  had  long  been  an  educational  center 
for  young  men,  especially  among  the  Presbyterians,  who  had  also 
endeavored  to  have  their  daughters  given  equal  ad  vantages  with  their 
sons.  A  united  and  determined  effort  looking  toward  the  accomplish- 
ment of  this  end  was  finally  made  in  1856. 

In  this  enterprise  the  more  intelligent  part  of  the  citizens  of  Dan- 
ville and  Boyle  County  generally  were  interested,  but  the  Presbyte- 
rians were  prime  movers.  Several  prominent  citizens  were  at  first 
appointed  to  canvass  for  funds  for  the  undertaking,  and  secured  sub- 
scriptions amounting  to  about  $5,000,  the  largest  single  subscription 
being  $500.  At  a  public  meeting  called  in  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Danville  to  hear  the  report  of  this  committee,  the  late  Rev. 
E.  P.  Humphrey,  D.  D.,  at  that  time  a  professor  in  Danville  Theolog- 
ical Seminary,  made  a  stirring  address  in  favor  of  the  higher  edu- 
cation of  women,  and  perhaps  did  more  than  anyone  else  to  arouse 
enthusiasm  in  favor  of  the  proposed  institution.  After  several  other 
addresses  had  been  made  and  various  plans  suggested,  Dr.  J.  M.  Meyer, 
who  is  still  living  in  Danville,  arose  and  having  stated  that,  if  the 

1  Newspaper  clipping  of  1889. 


248  HISTORY    OP    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

enterprise  was  to  be  a  success  larger  subscriptions  must  be  made, 
proposed  to  be  one  of  ten  to  give  $1,000  each  for  the  school.  To  this 
proposition  G.  W.  Welsh,  Charles  Henderson,  George  F.  Lee,  Charles 
Caldwell,  and  perhaps  one  or  two  others  responded.  These  subscrip- 
tions, together  with  other  smaller  amounts  subscribed  at  the  time, 
made  about  $8,000  raised  at  this  meeting.  A  further  canvass  of  the 
community  wasYnade  in  which  about  $3,000  additional  was  secured. 
A  building  committee  was  appointed,  and  with  the  money  in  hand  an 
eligible  lot  on  Lexington  street  in  Danville  was  purchased,  and  the 
front  of  the  original  building  erected  in  the  latter  part  of  1859. 

In  this  year  Prof.  E.  A.  Sloan,  of  Alabama,  was  elected  the  first 
principal  of  the  institution,  who,  upon  his  arrival  in  Danville,  con- 
sidered its  accommodations  insufficient,  and  so,  upon  his  request,  an 
extra  subscription  of  $10,000  was  raised,  with  which,  in  1860,  an  ell 
100  feet  long  and  two  stories  high,  with  galleries  on  either  side,  was 
added  to  the  front  previously  erected.  The  school  had  originally  been 
called  Henderson  Institute,  but  in  order  to  secure  the  addition  to  the 
building  Mr.  Charles  Caldwell  had  raised  his  subscription  to  $3,000, 
in  gratitude  for  which  its  name  was  changed  to  Caldwell  Institute. 
Mr.  Caldwell  was  an  elder  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Dan- 
ville, and  a  warm  friend  of  the  institution  as  long  as  he  lived.  Under 
its  new  name  a  charter  was  secured  for  the  enterprise,  placing  it 
under  the  control  of  the  elders  of  the  two  Presbyterian  churches  of 
Danville. 

The  institute  was  first  opened  by  Professor  Sloan  in  the  fall  of  1860. 
Its  completed  building  was  equipped  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  one  of 
the  finest  of  its  kind  in  the  State,  the  total  cost  of  buildings,  ground, 
and  equipment  being  about  $80,000.  The  faculty  was  composed  of  an 
efficient  corps  of  teachers  and  the  opening  attendance  was  large.  So 
the  school  at  the  time  had  every  prospect  of  success;  but  the  civil 
war  soon  cut  off  its  patronage  from  the  South,  upon  which  the  man- 
agement had  largely  depended,  and  consequently  its  operations  had 
to  be  suspended  in  1 862. 

It  remained  closed  for  about  two  years,  when  a  Mr.  Hart  seems  to 
have  had  charge  of  it  for  about  the  same  length  of  time.  In  1866 
Rev.  L.  G.  Barbour,  D.  D.,  was  elected  principal  and  conducted  a 
good  school  for  eight  years,  when  he  resigned,  1874,  to  accept  a  chair 
in  the  newly  established  Central  University. 

The  usefulness  of  the  institution  had  for  some  time  been  greatly 
impaired  by  the  lack  of  cooperation  between  the  two  controlling 
Presbyterian  churches,  who  had  become  divided  by  the  issues  of  the 
war  and  who  did  not  care  to  occupy  the  property  jointly.  This  was 
one  reason  for  its  suspension.  At  length  an  arrangement  was  made 
whereby  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  was  to  assume  a  debt 
remaining  from  Professor  Sloan's  administration,  amounting  to  about 
$20,000,  and  was  to  have  control  of  the  school.  It  has  until  recently 


CALDWELL    COLLEGE.  249 

remained  under  the  management  of  that  church,  whose  elders  have 
acted  as  its  board  of  trustees. 

Upon  Dr.  Harbour's  resignation  as  principal,  Prof.  W.  P.  Hussey, 
of  Boston,  Mass.,  became  his  successor.  The  latter  entered  upon  his 
work  with  great  enthusiasm,  inducing  the  board  of  trustees  to  apply 
to  the  legislature  for  a  new  charter,  which  changed  the  name  of  the 
institution  to  Caldwell  College  and  otherwise  enlarged  the  scope  of 
the  enterprise.  Professor  Hussey's  plans  were,  however,  cut  short 
and  the  work  of  the  college  again  suspended  by  the  misfortune  of 
having  its  building  entirely  destroyed  by  fire  in  April,  1876. 

Nothing  remained  to  it  from  this  calamity  except  its  grounds,  which, 
not  long  afterwards,  were  divided  into  building  lots  and  sold.  With 
the  funds  thus  obtained  the  present  main  building,  well  suited  to  its 
purposes  and  almost  directly  opposite  the  original  location,  was  pur- 
chased. In  the  autumn  of  1880  the  college  was  reopened  in  its  new 
quarters  with  Rev.  John  Montgomery  as  president.  President  Mont- 
gomery remained  at  its  head  for  six  years,  during  which  time  it  seems 
to  have  been  fairly  prosperous.  In  his  administration  a  brick  chapel 
was  added  to  the  material  equipment  of  this  institution. 

In  the  fall  of  1886,  Miss  C.  A.  Campbell,  of  Danville,  succeeded 
Rev.  Mr.  Montgomery  in  its  presidency  and  remained  its  successful 
manager  for  eleven  years.  Soon  after  her  accession  an  addition,  con- 
taining four  large  recitation  rooms  and  a  gymnasium,  was  made  to  the 
buildings.  Not  long  after  this,  a  charter  was  secured  granting  full 
power  to  confer  the  usual  degrees,  a  right  which  the  college  does  not 
seem  to  have  had,  at  least  in  full,  under  its  previous  charter.  The 
course  of  instruction  was  also  very  materially  strengthened,  the  aim 
being  to  make  it  the  equal  of  that  pursued  in  the  male  colleges  of  the 
State.  It  also  includes  a  normal  course,  intended  especially  for  stu- 
dents who  wish  to  become  teachers.  Miss  Campbell  associated  with 
herself  a  well  trained  faculty  of  11  teachers  and  was  able  to  build  up 
the  patronage  of  the  institution  considerably  during  her  administra- 
tion. 

She  retired  from  the  presidency  in  the  summer  of  1897,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Rev.  J.  C.  Ely,  D.  D. ,  who  has  upheld  the  former  pros- 
perity of  the  school  during  the  past  year.  Caldwell  College  has  sent 
forth  many  well  trained  graduates  since  its  first  opening  in  1860.  The 
number  of  these  can  not  be  accurately  ascertained  from  the  somewhat 
imperfect  records  at  hand,  but  enough  is  known  to  say  that  at  present 
there  are  over  200  alumnae. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

The  facts  used  in  this  sketch  have  been  chiefly  obtained  from  Dr.  J.  M.  Meyer, 
of  Danville.  They  have  been  considerably  elaborated  by  reference  to  catalogues, 
Henderson's  Centennial  Exhibit,  and  other  general  sources  of  information. 


250  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

HAMILTON   FEMALE   COLLEGE,  LEXINGTON. 

This  institution  was  originally  called  Hocker  Female  College,  after 
its  founder,  and  was  opened  in  Lexington  in  the  autumn  of  1869  by 
Mr.  James  M.  Hocker,  who,  as  announced  in  the  first  catalogue  of 
the  college,  had  had  for  years  the  cherished  purpose  of  consecrating  a 
large  portion  of  his  time  and  means  to  the  "  upbuilding  of  an  institu- 
tion for  j^oung  women,  founded  on  Christian  and  scientific  principles." 
The  school  was  intended  to  meet  a  public  want  by  supplying  an  edu- 
cation for  girls  equal  to  that  usually  afforded  boys.  It  was  from  the 
first  conducted  in  the  interest  of  the  Christian  Church,  of  which  Mr. 
Hocker  was  a  member.  He  was  the  founder  and  sole  proprietor,  but 
some  of  the  prominent  members  of  his  church  in  Lexington  and  vicin- 
ity were  associated  with  him  in  its  management.  A  number  of  these 
constituted  its  trustees  under  its  first  act  of  incorporation,  which  was 
secured  early  in  its  history  and  gave  to  it  the  right  of  granting 
diplomas. 

Prior  to  the  opening  of  the  college  a  substantial  and  artistic  build- 
ing was  erected  for  it,  which  has  a  frontage  of  160  feet  and  a  depth 
of  88  feet,  and  is  four  stories  in  height.  It  has  accommodations  for 
150  boarding  pupils,  and  is  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  handsome  campus 
on  North  Broadway  street.  In  1870  an  addition  was  made  to  it,  con- 
taining a  gymnasium,  music  hall,  and  art  gallery,  which,  including  the 
excellent  equipment,  brought  the  total  cost  of  the  entire  educational 
plant  above  $100,000. 

The  first  president  of  the  new  college  was  Robert  Graham,  A.  M., 
who  has  been  so  long  prominently  connected  with  the  educational 
enterprises  of  his  church,  especially  with  Kentucky  University  and 
the  College  of  the  Bible.  The  first  faculty  included  12  experienced 
teachers,  and  the  course  offered  embraced  the  following  departments : 
Mental  and  moral  philosophy,  physical  science,  mathematics,  English 
language  and  literature,  sacred  and  civil  history,  modern  languages, 
ancient  languages,  and  the  fine  arts.  There  was  also  a  preparatory 
department.  President  Graham  remained  in  charge  of  the  institution 
for  six  years,  during  which  the  average  annual  attendance  was  some- 
thing over  120,  and  represented  most  of  the  Southern  States.  The 
first  graduating  class,  that  of  1870,  contained  3  members,  and  there 
were  48  other  graduates  during  this  administration. 

Upon  President  Graham's  retirement  in  1875  to  become  the  presid- 
ing officer  of  the  College  of  the  Bible,  Henry  Turner,  A.  M.,  became 
his  successor  and  held  the  position  for  two  years.  Mr.  Hocker's 
financial  management  of  the  college  had  not  been  a  success,  and  so, 
in  the  summer  of  1877,  its  proprietorship  was  transferred  to  a  joint 
stock  company,  composed  of  its  first  board  of  trustees  and  other 
enlightened  and  public-spirited  citizens  of  central  Kentucky,  all  of 
whom  were  members  of  the  Christian  Church.  This  company  was 
incorporated  on  July  1,  1877,  and  a  new  charter  was  secured  for  the 


HAMILTON    FEMALE    COLLEGE.  251 

institution  placing  it  under  the  control  of  a  board  of  15  trustees 
elected  by  the  stockholders,  its  management  in  the  interest  of  the 
Christian  Church  being  still  secured  by  the  charter  requiring  its  trus- 
tees to  be  members  in  good  standing  of  some  Christian  congregation. 
Those  chiefly  instrumental  in  bringing  about  the  reorganization  in 
this  way  were  Elders  M.  E.  Lard,  J.  W.  McGarvey,  and  Robert  Gra- 
ham, although  others  assisted  prominently  in  the  enterprise.  The 
money  for  the  purchase  of  the  property  by  the  joint  stock  company 
was  raised  by  donations  and  loans  from  liberal  citizens  and  amounted 
to  about  $50,000,  of  which  $10,000  was  given  by  Mr.  William  Hamil- 
ton, of  Woodford  County,  in  honor  of  whom,  as  the  chief  contributor, 
the  school  was  named  Hamilton  College  by  its  new  charter.  It  has 
since  been  operated  under  this  charter  with  some  slight  amendments. 

Under  the  reorganization  Prof.  J.  T.  Patterson,  who  was  one  of  the 
chief  stockholders  and  had  had  twenty-two  years'  successful  experi- 
ence in  conducting  similar  institutions,  became  president.  The  college 
prospered  under  its  new  auspices  and  Professor  Patterson  remained 
at  its  head  fourteen  years,  steadily  increasing  its  reputation  and 
attendance.  Its  students  during  this  time  averaged  each  year  about 
165,  their  number  in  1890-91  rising  to  as  many  as  226.  They  fre- 
quently represented  13  of  the  Southern  States.  The  faculty  also 
increased  from  10  at  the  opening  of  the  administration  to  17  at  its 
close. 

In  1889  Professor  Patterson,  on  account  of  impaired  health,  retired 
from  the  active  management  of  the  institution,  having  associated 
with  himself  Prof.  J.  B.  Skinner  as  principal  and  financial  agent. 
The  former,  however,  still  retained  his  connection  with  the  faculty 
and  conducted  his  classes  as  usual  until  1891,  when  he  finally  severed 
his  connection  with  the  institution.  Under  his  management  from  4 
to  22  graduates  had  gone  forth  each  year,  and  the  total  roll  of  alumnae 
for  the  time  is  173. 

Upon  President  Patterson's  retirement  in  1891,  Professor  Skinner 
assumed  entire  charge  of  the  school  as  its  president.  A  primary 
department  was  then  added  to  the  course  of  instruction,  and  for  it  a 
new  building  was  erected  in  1892.  In  1895  an  extra  calisthenic  room, 
laboratory,  and  library  were  added  and  in  the  summer  of  1896  the 
college  grounds  considerably  enlarged  and  improved,  about  $5,000 
being  expended  for  these  purposes.  President  Skinner  had  a  large 
measure  of  success  in  sustaining  the  previous  standard  of  scholarship 
of  the  institution  and  in  upholding  its  attendance,  notwithstanding 
the  financial  distress  of  recent  years.  The  original  large  faculty  was 
still  retained,  and  about  200  students  were  usually  to  be  found  in  the 
rooms  of  the  college  during  his  administration,  which  lasted  about 
seven  years.  There  were  114  graduates  during  this  time,  24,  the 
largest  number  in  the  history  of  the  college,  having  been  sent  out  in 
1896,  thus  making  the  total  alumnse  of  the  institution,  up  to  1898, 
inclusive,  351,  who  have  come  from  15  States  of  the  Union. 


252  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

President  Skinner  died  in  office  February  28,  1898,  thus  being  cut 
off  in  the  midst  of  a  career  of  educational  usefulness,  which,  besides 
his  nine  years'  connection  with  Hamilton  College,  had  included  a  pro- 
fessorship in  Christian  College,  Columbia,  Mo. ,  for  five  years  and  the 
presidency  of  Garrard  College,  Lancaster,  Ky . ,  for  one  year. 

B.  C.  Hagerman,  A.  M.,  for  a  number  of  years  the  successful  presi- 
dent of  Madison  Female  Institute,  at  Richmond,  Ky. ,  and  since  then 
of  Bethany  College,  Va.,  has  recently  been  chosen  as  President  Skin- 
ner's successor.  His  past  record  is  such  that  Hamilton  College  may 
be  expected  to  continue  its  present  prosperity  under  his  management. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

This  sketch  has  been  founded  largely  upon  facts  obtained  from  a  file  of  cata- 
logues, which  have  been  supplemented  considerably  by  reference  to  Peter's  History 
of  Fayette  County  and  by  some  information  furnished  by  Professors  Grahanr  and 
Skinner. 

JESSAMINE   FEMALE   INSTITUTE,   NICHOLAS VILLE. 

Although  bearing  the  name  of  institute  simply,  this  school  has  for 
some  time  held  an  honorable  position  among  the  female  colleges  of 
the  State.  The  purpose  for  which  it  was  founded  may  be  well 
expressed  in  the  language  of  a  recent  catalogue,  which  declares  it 
to  be  i '  the  outgrowth  of  the  intelligent  demand  of  a  cultured  and 
earnest  community,  which  realizes  its  best  interests  are  met  in  an 
educated  womanhood." 

The  preliminary  steps  looking  toward  the  establishment  of  the 
institution  were  taken  at  a  public  meeting  held  at  Nicholasville  on 
May  20,  1854,  when  a  series  of  resolutions  were  adopted,  with  a  pre- 
amble reading  as  follows,  viz : 

We  whose  names  are  hereto  subscribed,  being  desirous  of  establishing  in  the 
town  of  Nicholasville,  Ky.,  a  female  school  of  such  a  character  as  will  attract 
patronage  from  abroad  as  well  as  give  the  highest  facilities  for  education  in  our 
own  midst,  have  united  ourselves  into  an  association  for  this  purpose,  pursuant  to 
an  act  of  the  legislature  of  Kentucky,  passed  at  its  last  session,  providing  for  and 
regulating  voluntary  associations.  And  that  we  may  secure  to  ourselves  the 
privileges  and  benefits  therein  set  forth  of  a  body  corporate  and  politic,  under  the 
name  and  style  of  the  Jessamine  Female  Institute,  do  hereby  adopt  the  following 
articles  of  agreement. 

According  to  the  articles  of  agreement,  which  follow,  the  educa- 
tional affairs  of  the  association  were  to  be  managed  by  its  principal 
officers  in  conjunction  with  a  board  of  trustees  appointed  by  the 
members  from  among  their  own  number.  The  agreement  was  signed 
by  twenty  prominent  citizens  of  Nicholasville  and  vicinity,  who  thus 
became  chiefly  instrumental  in  promoting  the  enterprise.  They  were 
mainly  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Only  $2,500  was  at 
first  subscribed  toward  the  equipment  of  the  school,  and  the  first 
building  erected  for  it  was  a  brick  chapel  for  recitation  purposes, 
with  a  seating  capacity  of  fifty  pupils. 


JESSAMINE    FEMALE    INSTITUTE.  253 

As  the  Presbyterians  took  the  leading  part  in  organizing  the  insti- 
tute it  was  opened  under  their  auspices,  with  Rev.  Branch  Price,  a 
Presbyterian  minister,  as  its  first  principal.  He  took  charge  in  the 
autumn  of  1855,  and  was  assisted  by  a  full  faculty.  The  curriculum 
offered  consisted  of  courses  in  English,  Latin,  Greek,  mathematics, 
modern  language,  music,  and  art,  and  was  aimed  to  be  the  equal  of 
that  of  any  of  the  female  colleges  in  the  Southwest.  The  policy  of 
the  trustees  has  been  to  leave  the  property  to  the  principal,  who  takes 
direct  charge  of  the  school  affairs,  appointing  and  governing  its  fac- 
ulty and  selecting  its  course  of  study. 

In  February,  1866,  the  legislature  of  the  State,  upon  application, 
granted  a  very  liberal  new  charter  to  the  institution,  giving  to  it 
the  power  to  confer  the  usual  degrees  and  putting  it  more  distinc- 
tively on  a  nonsectarian  basis.  It  was  to  be  managed  by  a  board  of 
six  trustees,  elected  every  three  years  by  the  members  of  the  corpora- 
tion. The  first  trustees  elected  under  this  charter  purchased  a  resi- 
dence for  the  principal,  adjacent  to  the  chapel,  and  in  1867  Prof.  M.  C. 
McCrohan,  who  had  succeeded  Rev.  William  Price,  opened  a  board- 
ing department,  which  added  considerably  to  the  patronage  of  the 
school  already  very  good. 

In  1870  Prof.  G.  G.  Butler  became  Professor  McCrohan's  successor 
in  the  principalship.  Under  his  direction  the  school  prospered  for 
three  years,  but  during  the  next  two  years  the  attendance  declined 
considerably.  In  1875  Prof.  J.  B.  Tharp  took  charge  of  the  institu- 
tion, and  had  a  good  school  for  three  years;  but  from  1878  to  1881  the 
affairs  of  the  institute  were  badly  managed  and  its  patronage  became 
so  poor  that  it  was  closed  for  a  short  while  in  the  spring  of  1881. 

In  the  autumn  of  that  year  Miss  M.  F.  Hewitt,  who  for  the  past  six 
years  had  been  principal  of  Warrendale  Female  Seminary,  at  George- 
town, Ky.,  was  induced  to  attempt  the  reorganization  of  the  school. 
It  had  become  so  much  disorganized  and  its  prospects  were  so  poor 
that  the  trustees  had  to  guarantee  Miss  Hewitt  her  support  for  a 
year  in  order  to  induce  her  to  undertake  the  work.  She,  however,  suc- 
ceeded in  the  task  from  the  beginning,  and  conducted  the  institution 
very  successfully  for  twelve  years.  The  attendance  increased  from 
year  to  year  so  that  the  original  building  had  soon  to  be  much 
improved  and  enlarged.  By  1888  the  institute  had  outgrown  entirely 
its  original  quarters,  and  in  September  of  that  year  an  elegant  and 
imposing  new  building  was  completed  by  the  trustees,  at  a  cost  of 
$20,000,  most  of  the  money  for  the  purpose  having  been  subscribed  by 
the  citizens  of  Nicholasville  and  Jessamine  County.  The  new  build- 
ing is  quite  complete  in  all  its  appointments  and  is  one  of  the  hand- 
somest structures  of  its  kind  in  the  State.  It  stands  in  the  midst  of 
a  well-kept  campus  of  3  acres  beautifully  situated  on  a  commanding 
elevation  west  of  the  town.  The  patronage  of  the  institute  during 
Miss  Hewitt's  administration  was  more  than  double  what  it  had  usu- 


254  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

ally  been  previously,  and  at  times  included  representatives  from  as 
many  as  eleven  of  the  Southern  and  Western  States. 

In  1893  declining  health  caused  Miss  Hewitt  to  resign,  and  the  present 
principal,  Mrs.  B.  W.  Vineyard,  was  then  elected.  Under  the  latter's 
management  the  previous  reputation  of  the  school  has  been  sustained 
and  considerable  improvements  have  been  made,  particularly  in  the 
way  of  additions  to  its  library,  scientific  apparatus,  and  other  facilities 
for  instruction.  The  present  faculty  is  a  large  and  well  qualified  one, 
and  the  institution  is  prepared  to  do  excellent  work  in  the  future, 
aiming  as  it  does  to  stand  abreast  of  any  college  in  the  South.  Like 
all  the  other  female  colleges  of  Kentucky,  however,  it  has  no  endow- 
ment upon  which  the  security  of  its  future  growth  and  expansion 
may  depend.  No  record  of  its  alumnae  was  kept  prior  to  1882,  but 
from  that  time  to  1898,  inclusive,  there  have  been  181  graduates,  many 
of  whom  have  become  teachers  of  considerable  reputation. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

This  sketch  is  based  primarily  upon  information  furnished  by  Dr.  Charles 
Mann,  secretary  of  the  board  of  trustees,  which  has  been  confirmed  and  enlarged 
by  reference  to  the  usual  sources  of  general  information. 

STANFORD   FEMALE   COLLEGE,    STANFORD. 

This  institution  was  organized  in  1871,  at  the  instance  of  some  of 
the  prominent  citizens  of  Stanford  and  vicinity,  for  the  purpose  of 
giving  their  daughters  a  collegiate  education  and  also  attracting 
patronage  from  a  distance.  It  was  chartered  the  year  of  its  estab- 
lishment with  the  usual  collegiate  powers  and  privileges.  John  B. 
Owsley,  S.  H.  Shanks,  J.  W.  Alcorn,  M.  C.  Saufley,  John  Reid,  and 
H.  S.  Withers  were  prominently  connected  with  the  enterprise  from 
its  inception,  and  may  be  mentioned  as  its  chief  founders  and  pro- 
moters. These  and  others  organized  themselves  into  a  joint  stock 
company  to  raise  the  necessary  funds  and  to  provide  for  a  plan  of 
management.  The  money  for  the  building  was  subscribed  by  the 
incorporators  and  other  citizens  of  the  community  and  was  supple- 
mented by  a  donation  from  the  town  of  Stanford. 

The  original  building  is  a  substantial  brick  structure  costing  about 
$15,000.  It  is  admirably  adapted  to  its  purpose  and  is  located  in  the 
midst  of  tastefully  ornamented  grounds.  It  was  completed  shortly 
before  the  opening  of  the  college.  Considerable  additions  and  improve- 
ments have  since  been  made  to  it  by  the  company  securing  author- 
ity to  issue  bonds  upon  the  property.  This  plan  has  caused  the 
accumulation  of  an  indebtedness  by  the  institution  which  has  no^t 
yet  been  entirely  liquidated. 

The  school  was  opened  in  the  fall  of  1872  with  Mrs.  Sallie  C.  True- 
hart,  A.  M.,  as  the  first  president.  Mrs.  Truehart  held  the  position 
with  success  for  thirteen  years.  Under  her  direction  the  original 
course  of  instruction,  consisting  of  the  departments  of  ancient  Ian- 


STANFORD    FEMALE    COLLEGE.  255 

guages,  modern  languages,  mathematics,  mental  and  moral  philosophy, 
English  literature,  natural  science,  history,  and  the  usual  ornamental 
branches,  was  laid  out  and  a  good  complement  of  educational  appa- 
ratus, including  the  foundation  of  a  well-selected  library,  accumu- 
lated. During  this  administration  the  faculty  included  from  6  to  11 
teachers  and  there  were  usually  about  100  students  in  attendance 
upon  the  various  courses,  which  included  primary  and  preparatory  as 
well  as  collegiate  instruction.  The  total  number  of  graduates  for  the 
period  is  41,  there  being  from  1  to  10  in  each  class  after  1875. 

In  1885  Mrs.  Truehart  resigned  her  position  and  was  succeeded  in 
the  presidency  by  A.  S.  Paxton,  A.  B.,  who  remained  in  charge  of 
the  institution  for  three  years.  Professor  Paxton  remodeled  the 
course  after  the  plan  of  that  of  his  alma  mater,  Washington  and  Lee 
University,  an  arrangement  which  has  since  been  substantially 
retained. 

J.  M.  Hubbard,  A.  M.,  next  became  president,  assuming  the  position 
in  1888  and  retaining  it  for  seven  years.  During  this  time  the  con- 
dition of  the  institution  was  that  of  general  prosperity.  Its  matricu- 
lation was  considerably  increased,  its  curriculum  somewhat  enlarged, 
and  its  buildings  extensively  improved.  Professor  Hubbard  employed 
only  well  qualified  teachers  and  used  modern  methods  of  instruction. 
He  resigned  in  1895  to  accept  the  presidency  of  Howard  Female 
College,  Gallatin,  Tenn. 

His  successor  at  Stanford  was  Rev.  William  Shelton,  LL.  D.,  who 
is  the  present  head  of  the  institution.  Dr.  Shelton  has  for  a  number 
of  years  been  a  prominent  educator,  having  been  the  president  of  sev- 
eral colleges  in  Tennessee.  His  administration  of  Stanford  College 
has  so  far  been  successful  and  the  future  prospects  of  the  institution 
are  good.  His  daughter,  Mrs.  Nannie  S.  Saufley,  is  the  efficient  lady 
principal  of  its  faculty.  A  number  of  improvements  have  recently 
been  made  in  the  buildings  and  the  scientific  apparatus  considerably 
enlarged.  Mr.  George  H.  McKinney,  of  Stanford,  presented  to  the 
college  in  1897  a  valuable  cabinet  of  minerals  and  other  geological 
specimens. 

Stanford  Female  College,  while  Christian  in  spirit,  is  one  of  the  few 
educational  institutions  in  Kentucky  which  is  not  under  the  patron- 
age, if  not  direct  control,  of  some  religious  denomination.  According 
to  its  charter  it  is  managed  by  a  board  of  eight  trustees,  who  are 
authorized  to  fill  their  own  vacancies.  The  course  of  instruction 
offered  by  the  institution  has  been  from  time  to  time  improved  so  as 
to  compare  very  favorably  with  that  of  other  Southern  female  colleges. 
If  four  of  its  "schools"  are  completed  the  student  is  entitled  to  a 
diploma  without  degree.  The  completion  of  the  English  course  leads 
to  the  degree  of  M.  E.  L.  The  addition  of  Latin  to  the  latter  course 
entitles  one  to  the  degree  of  A.  B.  The  standard  of  scholarship  in 
the  degree  courses  seems  to  have  been  very  well  upheld,  as  the  insti- 
tution has  had  only  83  graduates  throughout  its  history. 


256  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

This  sketch  has  as  its  chief  foundation  a  number  of  data  furnished  by  President 
Hubbard,  now  president  of  Howard  Female  College,  Gallatin,  Tenn.  Other  facts 
have  come  from  catalogues  and  similar  sources. 

VILLA  RIDGE   COLLEGE,  PEWEE   VALLEY. 

This  institution  was  known  until  1896  as  Kentucky  College  for 
Young  Ladies,  and  its  object  and  purpose,  as  expressed  in  a  clipping 
from  the  Oldham  News  of  December  20,  1894,  is  "to  promote  the  edu- 
cation of  young  women  in  literature,  science,  and  art."  The  college 
was  founded  originally  by  a  stock  company,  of  which  a  number  of 
prominent  citizens  of  Pewee  Valley  and  vicinity  were  members,  22 
of  whom,  its  chief  promoters,  constituting  its  first  board  of  trustees. 
Those  mainly  instrumental  in  establishing  the  school  seem  to  have 
been  Presbyterians,  but  it  was  placed  from  the  beginning  on  an  unde- 
nominational basis.  A  well-located  tract  of  20  acres  of  land,  one-half 
of  which  constitutes  the  present  campus  of  the  college,  was  purchased 
by  the  company  and  from  funds  subscribed  by  its  members  a  large 
and  comfortable  building  was  erected,  which  was  dedicated  on  Decem- 
ber 23,  1873. 

The  school  had  been  opened  in  the  previous  autumn  and  had  E.  A. 
Sloan,  A.  M.,  as  its  first  president.  Professor  Sloan  had  previously 
been  at  the  head  of  female  colleges  in  Alabama  and  Kentucky,  and 
successfully  conducted  the  institution  for  six  years.  The  original 
faculty  consisted  of  8  teachers,  and  the  course  of  instruction  as  first 
outlined  contained  the  usual  ornamental  departments,  besides  a  two 
years'  preparatory  course  and  a  four  years'  collegiate  course  of  very 
good  compass  in  comparison  with  that  of  similar  institutions.  There 
were  63  students  in  attendance  the  first  year  the  school  opened.  In 
1874  it  was  incorporated  by  the  legislature  under  the  name  of  Ken- 
tucky College  for  Young  Ladies  and  was  given  all  the  powers  and 
privileges  of  "any  university,  college,  or  seminary  of  learning  in  the 
State."  In  its  second  year  the  foundations  of  an  excellent  library  for 
the  institution  were  laid  through  the  liberality  of  Mrs.  B.  J.  Clay,  of 
Richmond,  Ky.  In  that  year  there  were  68  students  in  attendance, 
most  of  whom  were  in  the  collegiate  department,  and  the  first  class, 
consisting  of  9  members,  was  graduated.  There  were  33  graduates 
during  President  Sloan's  administration,  which  was  terminated  by 
resignation  in  1879. 

Soon  after  Professor  Sloan's  retirement  an  arrangement  was  made 
between  the  trustees  and  Rev.  Erastus  Rowley,  D.  D.,  whereby  the 
latter  leased  its  property  and  took  entire  charge  of  the  college  as  its 
president.  Dr.  Rowley  was  a  prominent  minister  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  South.  He  was  an  alumnus  of  Union  College,  New 
York,  and  a  teacher  of  twenty-six  years'  experience.  Not  long  after 
his  accession  to  its  presidency  he  became  sole  proprietor  of  the  insti- 


POTTER    COLLEGE.  257 

tution  by  the  purchase  of  its  property  from  the  trustees.  It  has  since 
remained  a  purely  private  enterprise. 

Early  in  Dr.  Rowley's  administration  a  primary  department  was 
added  to  the  course  of  instruction  and  a  scientific  course  was  arranged 
for  in  the  collegiate  department.  In  1891  normal  and  business  depart- 
ments were  also  added  and  in  the  same  year  the  building  of  the  pri- 
mary and  preparatory  departments  was  considerably  enlarged.  The 
library  was  also  increased  during  this  administration,  in  which  the 
average  attendance  was  somewhat  larger  than  it  had  been  formerly. 
From  two  to  six  students  completed  the  course  each  year  during  the 
time,  making  the  total  number  of  graduates  43  up  to  the  time  of  Dr. 
Rowley's  retirement  from  the  presidency  of  the  institution  in  1894. 

In  the  summer  of  this  year  G.  B.  Perry,  A.  M.,  became  president  of 
the  faculty,  Dr.  Rowley  still  remaining  in  connection  with  the  insti- 
tution as  its  professor  of  moral  philosophy  and  the  manager  in  certain 
respects  of  its  business  affairs.  He  retained  this  relation  with  the 
institution  until  his  death,  on  February  28,  1896.  President  Perry 
had  had  several  years'  experience  before  coming  to  Pewee  Valley,  and 
has  been  able  \)y  his  executive  ability  to  uphold  the  former  reputa- 
tion of  the  institution  and  somewhat  enlarge  its  patronage  which  now 
comes  from  a  number  of  the  Southern  States  outside  of  Kentucky. 
All  the  earlier  departments  of  study  have  been  retained,  the  former 
primary  and  preparatory  departments  having  been  combined  into  a 
preparatory  course  of  four  years,  and  a  one-year  postgraduate  course 
having  been  added  to  the  collegiate  department,  which  embraces  the 
schools  of  history,  mathematics,  science,  Latin,  mental  and  moral 
philosophy,  and  English,  besides  the  usual  ornamental  branches.  The 
present  faculty  has  10  members. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Clipping  from  the  Oldham  News  of  December  20, 1894,  with  additional  informa- 
tion mainly  obtained  from  catalogues. 

POTTER   COLLEGE,    BOWLING   GREEN. 

The  following  sentence,  taken  substantially  from  one  of  its  recent 
catalogues,  describes  in  a  general  way  the  origin  of  this  institution : 
Potter  College  is  an  expression  of  the  generosity  and  liberal  spirit  of 
the  citizens  of  Bowling  Green,  who,  irrespective  of  church  connections, 
heartily  united  in  establishing  in  their  midst  an  institution  for  the 
higher  education  of  young  women.  The  chief  promoter  of  the  enter- 
prise was  Rev.  B.  F.  Cabell,  who  had  been  for  twelve  years  the  presi- 
dent of  Cedar  Bluff  Female  College,  located  in  Warren  County,  and 
who  in  January,  1889,  first  conceived  the  idea  of  establishing  a  similar 
institution  in  Bowling  Green,  which  in  many  ways  offered  excellent 
advantages  as  a  location  for  such  a  school.  This  plan  having  been 
submitted  to  a  few  of  the  prominent  citizens  of  the  community  received 
2127— No.  25 17 


258  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

a  hearty  response  from  them,  and  steps  were  at  once  taken  to  raise 
by  subscription  the  money  needed  to  erect  and  equip  for  the  proposed 
institution  a  building  which  should  be  first  class  in  all  its  appoint- 
ments. A  stock  company  was  soon  organized,  the  soliciting  commit- 
tee of  which  secured  subscriptions  amounting  to  about  $17,000.  This 
was,  however,  not  deemed  a  sufficiently  large  amount  with  which  to 
inaugurate  the  enterprise,  and  Mr.  P.  J.  Potter,  unwilling  that  the 
project  should  fail,  raised  his  subscription  to  $5,000,  in  consideration 
of  which  liberal  gift  the  college  was  named  by  its  trustees  in  his 
honor. 

About  a  year  was  consumed  in  raising  the  needed  funds  and  erect- 
ing the  front  building,  which  was  not  fully  completed  until  December, 
1889.  Meanwhile  a  charter  was  obtained  for  the  college,  conferring 
upon  it  all  the  usual  powers  and  privileges,  and  the  institution  was 
opened  on  September  9,  1889,  with  Rev.  B.  F.  Cabell  as  its  president, 
its  property  having  been  leased  to  him  for  a  number  of  years.  The 
college  building,  to  which  a  new  wing  was  added  in  1891,  was  finely 
equipped  throughout,  making  its  total  cost  about  $50,000,  its  appoint- 
ments, including  an  excellent  gymnasium,  being  modern  in  all  respects. 
It  is  a  three-story  brick  building  of  improved  architecture,  one  of  the 
largest  of  its  kind  in  the  State,  and  is  splendidly  located,  in  a  com- 
pass of  about  7  acres,  on  a  commanding  eminence  west  of  the  town. 
A  part  of  the  equipment  of  the  college  at  its  opening  was  a  very  good 
complement  of  physical  and  chemical  apparatus  and  an  excellent 
geological  collection. 

The  institution  is  Christian  in  spirit,  but  is  insured  against  sectarian 
control  by  the  provision  of  its  charter  that  not  more  than  two  of  its 
ten  trustees,  who  are  elected  by  the  stockholders,  shall  be  members  of 
the  same  religious  denomination.  The  course  of  instruction  at  first 
embraced  primary,  preparatory,  academic  (secondary),  and  collegiate 
departments,  but  only  the  last  two,  extending  through  two  and  four 
years,  respectively,  are  at  present  retained.  There  are  in  addition 
the  usual  departments  of  music  and  art.  The  regular  curriculum 
includes  the  departments  of  English,  history,  natural  sciences,  Latin, 
mathematics,  philosophy,  elocution,  Greek,  French,  and  German,  in 
the  last  three  of  which  elective  courses  are  offered,  as  well  as  in  Eng- 
lish. Certificates  of  proficiency  are  granted  in  various  departments, 
but  only  one  degree,  that  of  A.  B.,  is  conferred.  The  original  faculty 
contained  11  members,  and  the  students  in  attendance  the  first  year, 
who  numbered  about  200,  represented  13  States,  principally  in  the 
South  and  West.  A  number  of  them  were  advanced  students  from 
other  institutions,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  there  were  9  graduates 
in  the  various  departments  of  the  college. 

The  average  annual  enrollment  since  the  opening  of  the  institution 
has  been  about  200,  and  26  different  States  have  been  represented  by 
its  students  up  to  the  present  time.  Its  faculty  has  been  usually 


OWENSBORO    FEMALE    COLLEGE.  259 

composed  of  about  15  teachers  in  the  various  departments,  and  it  has 
had  altogether,  up  to  1898  inclusive,  77  regular  graduates,  several  of 
whom  are  holding  lucrative  positions  as  teachers  in  different  sections 
of  the  country. 

During  the  nine  years  of  its  history  the  equipment  of  the  college 
has  been  considerably  improved,  especially  in  the  way  of  libraries  and 
scientific  apparatus.  In  1896  an  annex  building  was  erected  near  the 
main  building.  Since  the  institution  was  opened  President  Cabell 
has  been  its  active  manager  and  the  promoter  of  its  success.  He  has 
lately  secured  a  sufficiently  large  amount  of  its  stock  to  give  him  a 
controlling  interest  in  its  affairs,  which  makes  the  institution  now 
really  a  private  enterprise.  The  scholastic  year  1897-98  was  one  of 
the  most  successful  in  its  history — a  history  which  has  been  marked 
by  almost  unexampled  prosperity,  for,  although  one  of  the  youngest 
of  the  female  colleges  of  the  South,  its  career  has  been  very  successful 
from  the  start. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

The  Chicago  Commercial  Journal  of  April  7,  1892,  supplemented  by  the  usual 
sources  of  general  information. 

OWENSBORO   FEMALE   COLLEGE,  OWENSBORO. 

This  institution  opened  its  doors  in  the  autumn  of  1890,  and  is  there- 
fore the  youngest  candidate  for  public  favor  among  the  female  colleges 
of  Kentucky.  The  college  is  said  in  its  first  announcement  to  be  "the 
outgrowth  of  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  citizens  of  Owensboro  to  have 
brought  to  their  door  the  largest  advantages  for  their  daughters  in 
the  higher  branches  of  education."  A  few  earnest  men  took  hold  of 
the  matter  in  a  determined  way,  and  having  organized  themselves  into 
a  stock  company  in  a  short  time  raised  $30,000  with  which  they  pur- 
chased an  admirable  site  and  erected  thereon  an  excellent  building, 
the  cost  of  the  latter  being  about  $24,000.  R.  P.  Me  Johnston,  Thomas 
Pettit,  J.  D.  Powers,  Robert  Brodie,  J.  G.  Delker,  A.  C.  Thompkins, 
J.  H.  Parrish,  E.  G.  Buckner,  and  T.  S.  McAtee  were,  among  others, 
especially  active  in  promoting  the  enterprise. 

The  institution  is  incorporated  under  the  general  laws  of  the  State. 
Its  articles  of  incorporation  were  filed  on  March  26,  1893,  and  give  to 
it  the  right  to  confer  the  usual  literary  degrees.  It  is  placed  under 
the  management  of  a  board  of  10  directors  chosen  by  the  members  of 
the  stock  company  from  their  own  number.  R.  P.  McJohnston.  was 
the  president  of  its  first  board  of  directors,  while  Thomas  Pettit  was 
the  secretary  and  J.  H.  Parrish  treasurer.  The  committee  under 
which  the  building  was  completed  was  composed  of  A.  C.  Thompkins, 
Alexander  Hill,  and  E.  G.  Buckner.  The  building  is  of  brick,  is  3 
stories  in  height,  and  is  quite  modern  in  its  equipment.  It  contains, 
besides  the  class-rooms,  a  gymnasium  and  laboratories,  and  has,  in 
addition,  accommodation  for  30  boarding  pupils.  The  college  has 


260  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

acquired  since  its  foundation  a  good  geological  collection  and  an 
excellent  herbarium. 

Prof.  W.  H.  Stuart,  who  had  been  for  several  years  at  the  head  of 
Stuart  College  at  Shelby ville,  Ky . ,  was  elected  its  first  president,  and 
opened  the  institution  on  November  1,  1890,  at  the  time  its  building 
was  completed.  Professor  Stuart  was  assisted  by  a  faculty  of  8  mem- 
bers. The  course  offered  at  the  opening  was  similar  to  that  usually 
given  in  female  colleges  in  the  South,  having  besides  the  usual  orna- 
mental branches  and  primary  and  preparatory  departments,  two  col- 
lege courses  of  four  years  each,  leading  respectively  to  the  degree 
mistress  of  arts,  and  mistress  of  belles-lettres.  These  courses  embrace 
the  departments  of  ancient  languages,  modern  languages,  mathe- 
matics, natural  science,  and  English.  There  were  70  regular  and  12 
special  students  in  attendance  the  first  year.  In  the  second  year 
there  were  83  regular  and  12  special  students. 

President  Stuart  was  not  able  to  make  a  financial  success  of  the 
school  and  so,  in  1895,  retired  from  its  management,  its  property  being 
at  that  time  leased  for  a  term  of  years  to  A.  C.  Goodwin,  Ph.  D. 
Professor  Goodwin  had  been  for  the  previous  nine  years  superin- 
tendent of  the  Owerisboro  city  schools,  after  having  previously  been 
connected  with  the  faculty  of  South  Kentucky  College.  He  has  since 
conducted  Owensboro  Female  College  with  success,  having  been  able 
to  considerably  widen  its  reputation  and  extend  its  patronage. 

Under  his  contract  with  the  directors  boys  were  to  be  allowed  to 
enter  this  institution  as  day  pupils,  thus  making  the  school  partly 
coeducational  and  so  far  changing  its  original  design.  The  enterprise 
has  also  of  late  become  largely  individual  through  President  Good- 
win's having  acquired  the  greater  part  of  its  stock.  In  its  course  of 
instruction  natural  science  and  literature  have  recently  been  given 
special  emphasis,  while  a  commercial  course  and  a  normal  depart- 
ment have  been  added  to  the  branches  previously  taught.  The  col- 
lege has  had  a  number  of  graduates,  several  of  whom  have  sustained 
themselves  well  in  advanced  work  in  Eastern  institutions. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

This  sketch  is  based  entirely  upon  catalogues  and  correspondence. 


Chapter  VII. 

SPECIAL   PROFESSIONAL   SCHOOLS. 


THE   UNIVERSITY   OF   LOUISVILLE. 

The  charter  of  the  University  of  Louisville,  granted  by  the  legis- 
lature of  Kentucky  on  February  7,  1846,  contemplated  the  founding 
of  ' '  all  the  departments  of  a  university  for  the  promotion  of  every 
branch  of  science,  literature,  and  the  liberal  arts."  Its  basis  was  to 
be  the  Louisville  Medical  Institute,  then  a  nourishing  institution;  a 
law  department  was  to  be  at  once  established,  and  power  was  given 
to  convert  Louisville  College,  the  successor  of  old  Jefferson  Seminary, 
founded  in  1816,  into  the  collegiate  department.  The  proposed  insti- 
tution was,  according  to  the  plan  of  management  adopted  for  the 
Louisville  Medical  Institute  in  1837,  to  be  governed  by  a  board  of 
eleven  trustees,  who  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  mayor  and  city 
council  of  Louisville  and  were  given  the  right  to  confer  all  degrees 
usually  conferred  in  colleges  or  universities.  This  board  has  since 
exercised  supervision  over  the  original  medical  department  and  over 
the  law  department,  which  was  soon  added,  but  the  contemplated 
conversion  of  Louisville  College  into  its  academic  department  was 
never  regularly  completed,  and  so  the  University  of  Louisville,  as  at 
present  constituted,  embraces  only  medical  and  law  schools,  located 
in  the  city  of  Louisville.  Jefferson  Seminary,  or  Louisville  College 
as  it  came  to  be  called  after  1830,  is,  however,  worthy  of  some  notice 
in  this  connection  on  account  of  the  important  educational  position 
it  held  for  some  time  in  the  early  history  of  the  city. 

JEFFERSON    SEMINARY. 

4 

This  was  one  of  the  State  academies  created  lay  the  act  of  February 
10,  1798,  which  gave  to  it  an  endowment  of  6,000  acres  of  public  land. 
An  additional  act  of  December  17,  1798,  gave  to  it  the  privilege  of 
raising  $5,000  by  lottery  for  building  purposes.  The  control  of  the 
proposed  institution  was  vested  originally  in  a  board  of  eight  trus- 
tees, whose  number  was  for  some  reason  increased  to  sixteen  in  1800. 
The  land  granted  was  later  surveyed  and  located  in  Union  County, 
but  no  use  seems  ever  to  have  been  made  of  the  lottery  privilege. 

Nothing  was  done  toward  opening  the  school  for  several  years, 
owing  largely,  it  seems,  to  the  little  interest  taken  in  it  on  the  part 
of  its  unwieldy  board  of  trustees,  whose  rights  had  several  times  to  be 

261 


262  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

confirmed  by  subsequent  legislative  action,  but  owing  partly,  perhaps, 
to  the  lack  of  funds  for  inaugurating  the  enterprise.  At  last,  on 
July  2,  1813,  the  trustees,  now  reduced  in  number  to  ten,  purchased 
for  $800  a  lot  of  2f  acres  on  Eighth  street,  between  what  is  now  Wal- 
nut and  Green  streets,  upon  which,  soon  after,  a  brick  house,  one 
and  a  half  stories  high,  with  two  large  ground  rooms  opening  toward 
Gray  son  street,  was  erected. 

In  this  building  the  school  was  opened  in  1816,  with  the  historian, 
Mann  Butler,  as  its  first  principal.  Mr.  Butler  was  assisted  by  Reuben 
Murray  and  William  Thompkins,  the  principal's  salary  being  $600  a 
year  and  that  of  the  other  teachers  $500  each.  The  school  term  was 
six  months  in  length,  and  the  rate  of  tuition  was  $20  per  term. 
Between  40  and  50  students  were  in  attendance  upon  the  seminary 
during  its  first  term.  It  was  from  the  beginning  of  comparatively 
high  grade,  and  was  the  finishing  school  for  the  more  elementary  old- 
field  schools  then  located  throughout  the  city.  In  1817  an  unsuccess- 
ful attempt  was  made  to  improve  the  institution's  financial  condition 
by  starting  a  town  on  its  Union  County  lands,  and  in  1820  authority 
was  obtained  from  the  legislature  to  dispose  of  these  lands  at  auction. 
It  does  not  appear  how  much  was  realized  from  this  transaction.  In 
1829  the  plan  of  governing  the  school  was  much  improved  by  having 
the  number  of  its  trustees  reduced  to  seven,  who  were  appointed  by 
the  county  court  of  Jefferson  County. 

On  September  30,  1830, 1  inspired  by  the  success  of  the  new  city 
school  which  had  taken  away  its  principal,  Mann  Butler,  its  trustees 
secured  legislative  authority  for  transferring  one-half  of  its  property 
to  the  city  of  Louisville  for  a  high  school.  The  city  accordingly  took 
possession  soon  afterwards  of  the  city  property  of  the  seminary,  which 
it  converted  into  what  was  known  as  Louisville  College,  the  city  agree- 
ing to  augment,  as  far  as  necessary,  its  tuition  fees  by  an  annual 
appropriation.  Its  first  regular  college  faculty,  organized  in  1830, 
was  composed  as  follows:  Rev.  B.  F.  Farnsworth,  president  and  pro- 
fessor of  intellectual  and  moral  philosophy  and  political  economy; 
John  H.  Harney,  professor  of  mathematics,  natural  science,  and  civil 
engineering;  James  Brown,  professor  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  lan- 
guages and  literatures;  Leonard  Bliss,  professor  of  belles-lettres  and 
history;  H.  F.  Farnsworth,  tutor  in  the  preparatory  department. 
Rather  a  modern  tone  is  given  to  the  school  by  the  fact  that  chairs 
of  modern  languages,  of  commercial  science,  and  of  agricultural  and 
mechanical  arts  were  contemplated  as  future  departments.  These 
were,  however,  probably  never  established. 

Although  popularly  having  the  name  of  college  and  really  doing 
considerable  work  of  collegiate  grade,  the  legal  title  of  the  institution 
was  still  Jefferson  Seminary  until  January  17,  1840,2  when  it  was,  by 


1  The  conveyance  was  not  formally  made  until  April  7,  1844. 

2  Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  45. 


UNIVERSITY    OF    LOUISVILLE.  263 

legislative  action,  regularly  incorporated  as  Louisville  College,  and 
became  the  official  head  of  the  city  public-school  system,  then  con- 
sisting of  primary  and  grammar  schools  and  a  college.  The  city  was 
then  to  pay  $2,000  a  year  into  the  funds  of  the  college  and  to  receive 
in  return  30  free  scholarships  for  its  most  deserving  grammar  school 
students.  The  college,  however,  seems  later  to  have  received  regular 
tuition  fees  for  these  pupils  in  addition  to  the  regular  appropriation. 
Its  faculty  at  this  period  in  its  history  was  an  able  one,  including 
among  its  members  for  some  time  Prof.  Noble  Butler,  noted  through- 
out the  State  as  an  eminent  educator  and  the  author  of  popular 
text-books. 

Under  the  legislative  act  of  February  7,  1846,  it  was  proposed  to 
make  the  institution  the  academical  department  of  the  contemplated 
University  of  Louisville  provided  for  by  the  act,  but  this  union  was 
never  regularly  consummated,  and  by  the  terms  of  the  second  charter 
of  Louisville,  adopted  March  4,  1851,  all  tuition  fees  in  Louisville 
College  were  abolished,  and  it  lost  its  identity  in  the  city  public-school 
system,  of  which  it  has  since  remained  a  part,  as  the  male  high 
school.  Some  mention  will  again  be  made  of  it  in  describing  the 
public-school  system  of  Louisville. 

The  old  seminary  property  was  sold  in  different  parcels  in  1845  and 
soon  after,  and  the  proceeds  subsequently  used  to  erect  on  the  uni- 
versity grounds,  on  Chestnut  street  near  Ninth  street,  the  building  of 
the  law  department  of  the  university,  which  has,  however,  since  its 
construction  been  used  almost  exclusively  as  the  home  of  the  male 
high  school,  that  school  thus  remaining,  in  location  at  least,  if  not 
otherwise,  a  department  of  the  university.  As  old  Jefferson  Seminary 
and  Louisville  College  it  had,  from  the  beginning,  taken  a  high  stand- 
ing, partly  on  account  of  Mann  Butler,  its  first  principal,  and  was  for 
a  longtime  the  only  seat  of  higher  learning  in  the  city.  In  this  capac- 
ity it  furnished  to  many  of  the  early  citizens  of  Louisville  the  elements 
of  a  liberal  education,  of  the  benefits  of  which  they  would  otherwise 
have  been  deprived. 

THE    MEDICAL   DEPARTMENT. 

The  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Louisville  is  the  oldest 
medical  school  now  existing  in  Kentucky  with  a  continuous  history  to 
date.  Its  origin  may  be  traced,  in  name  at  least,  to  the  Louisville 
Medical  Institute,  which  was  established  in  Louisville  on  Februarj^  7, 
1833,  and  was,  it  seems,  operated  for  a  short  time  under  the  charter 
of  Centre  College,  at  Danville.  It  appears,  however,  never  to  have 
had  any  vigor,  and  was  succeeded  in  1837  by  a  new  institution,  under 
the  same  name,  out  of  which  has  grown  organically  the  present  med- 
ical department  of  the  University  of  Louisville,  which  has  thus  had  a 
continuous  corporate  history  since  1837. 


264  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

The  leading  spirit  in  the  establishment  of  the  school  was  Dr.  Charles 
Caldwell,  who  had  been  connected  for  a  number  of  j^ears  with  the 
medical  faculty  of  Transylvania  University,  but  had  begun  to  recog- 
nize in  Louisville,  which  in  1837  had  much  outgrown  Lexington  in 
size,  a  more  eligible  location  for  a  medical  college,  largely  by  reason 
of  the  superior  clinical  advantages  it  offered.  Accordingly,  after  an 
unsuccessful  attempt,  in  which  he  was  joined  by  Professors  Cooke, 
Yandell,  and  Short,  of  the  Transylvania  medical  department,  to  have 
that  school  moved  bodily  to  Louisville,  he  and  those  gentlemen 
resigned  their  positions  at  Lexington  and  resolved  to  open  the  new 
institution  on  their  own  responsibility. 

Largely  through  Dr.  Cald well's  influence  the  city  council 1  of  Louis- 
ville was  induced  to  give  4  acres  of  ground,  centrally  located  with 
reference  to  the  city,  and  $50,000  in  money  toward  the  new  enter- 
prise, $30,000  being  given  to  provide  a  suitable  building  on  the  lot 
donated  and  $20,000  to  furnish  a  library  and  apparatus.  Dr.  Joshua 
B.  Flint,  a  member  of  its  first  facultj^,  was  sent  to  Europe  by  order 
of  the  city  council  to  purchase  a  suitable  equipment  of  apparatus  for 
the  new  school,  and  succeeded  in  securing  a  very  fine  one  for  the 
time.  The  corner  stone  of  a  splendid  new  building  was  laid  witli 
appropriate  ceremonies  on  February  22,  1838.  The  institution  had 
already  been  opened,  however,  in  the  fall  of  1837,  and  until  its  buiM 
.ng  could  be  completed  occupied  temporary  quarters  in  the  uppe 
rooms  of  the  city  workhouse,  which  stood  on  the  site  of  the  present 
university  building. 

The  first  faculty  of  the  school  was  constituted  as  follows :  Charles 
Caldwell,  M.  D.,  institutes  of  medicine;  John  Eslen  Cooke,  M.  D., 
theory  and  practice  of  medicine;  Lunsford  P.  Yandell,  M.  D.,  chem- 
istry; Henry  Miller,  M.  D.,  obstetric  medicine;  Jedediah  Cobb,  M.  D., 
anatomy;  Joshua  B.  Flint,  M.  D.,  surgery.  Drs.  Caldwell,  Cooke, 
and  Yandell  held  the  same  chairs  as  those  held  by  them  in  Lexington, 
where  they  had  been  long  and  favorably  known,  and  the  faculty  was 
altogether  a  strong  one.  Dr.  Cobb  was  a  well-known  medical  professor 
from  Cincinnati,  and  was  for  many  years  the  efficient  dean  of  the  insti- 
tute f  acultjr.  There  were  only  25  students  present  at  the  open  ing  of  the 
new  institution,  but  80 — a  number  of  them  from  other  institutions — 
were  in  attendance  during  its  first  session,  and  at  its  close  the  degree 
of  M.  D.  was  conferred  on  24  candidates. 

The  fine  new  building  was  finished  in  time  for  the  opening  of  the 
second  session  of  the  school,  and,  with  its  library  and  apparatus  pur- 
chased by  Professor  Flint,  its  equipment  was  then  unexcelled  in  the 
country.  Its  faculty  was  completed  the  second  year  by  the  addition 
of  Dr.  Charles  W.  Short,  who  came  to  Louisville  at  that  time  to 
occupy  in  the  institute  his  old  Lexington  chair  of  meteria  medica,  the 

1  Fred.  A.  Kaye  was  mayor  of  Louisville  at  the  time  and  was  one  of  the  foremost 
and  warmest  advocates  of  the  school. 


UNIVERSITY    OF    LOUISVILLE.  265 

duties  of  which  had  been  discharged  the  previous  year  by  Professor 
Yandell.  During  the  second  session  120  matriculates  were  in  attend- 
ance, and  at  its  close  27  M.  D.'s  were  conferred. 

In  1839,  a  new  chair  of  clinical  medicine  and  pathological  anatomy 
was  created,  to  which  was  called  the  celebrated  Dr.  Daniel  Drake, 
formerly  connected  with  Transylvania  University  and  the  Cincinnati 
Medical  College,  and  noted  for  his  strength,  versatility,  and  eloquence 
as  a  teacher  of  medicine.  The  students  that  year  rose  in  number  to 
205,  and  there  were  38  graduates.  In  1840,  a  clinical  amphitheater 
was  erected  by  the  faculty  at  their  own  expense,  adjoining  the  Marine 
Hospital,  in  order  that  better  results  might  be  obtained  in  witnessing 
operations. 

The  number  of  students  regularly  increased  until  347  were  in 
attendance,  in  1845-46,  and  73  were  graduated.  This  made  the 
school  second  in  number  only  to  the  two  medical  schools  of  Philadel- 
phia. It  had  had,  up  to  the  end  of  that  year,  1,955  matriculates  and 
418  graduates.  No  other  medical  school  had,  probably  up  to  that 
time,  attracted  a  larger  number  of  pupils  in  so  short  a  time. 

A  larger  institution  was  now  proposed  and,  as  has  been  said,  was 
organized,  by  a  charter  secured  from  the  legislature,  on  February 
7,  1846,  according  to  the  terms  of  which  Louisville  Medical  Institute 
became  the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Louisville,  the 
buildings  and  grounds  of  the  former  institution  being  transferred  to 
the  latter  by  request  of  the  city  council.  This  reorganization  took 
place  on  May  18,  1846,  through  by-laws  adopted  by  the  board  of  trus- 
tees, who  took  the  place  of  the  old  board  of  managers.  This  change 
of  name  and  charter  had  really  no  other  effect  on  the  institution, 
which  has  been  conducted  on  the  same  plan  as  formerly,  and  has  not 
been  materially  affected  in  any  way  in  its  history  by  the  founding  of  a 
law  department  under  the  same  board  of  trustees. 

The  history  of  the  medical  department  of  the  university  has  since 
been  one  of  uniform  success,  its  aim  having  been  to  keep  abreast  of 
the  demands  of  medical  science  and  to  furnish  proper  facilities  for 
the  changed  conditions  of  practice  and  teaching  as  these  have  arisen. 
Some  notice  will  be  taken  of  the  important  advances  in  its  work  from 
time  to  time,  together  with  other  incidents  in  its  history  of  more  than 
usual  interest. 

The  progress  of  the  school  was  steady  until  interrupted  somewhat 
by  the  advent  of  the  civil  war,  which  suspended  its  lectures  entirely 
during  the  year  1862-63.  Meanwhile,  on  December  31, 1856,  it  had  lost 
its  original  building  by  fire ;  but  the  lectures  of  that  session  were  com- 
pleted in  the  amphitheater  of  the  marine  hospital  by  the  courtesy  of 
its  trustees,  and  a  new  building,  in  many  respects  more  commodious 
than  the  old  one,  was  erected  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  1857.  The 
loss  on  the  former  building  and  apparatus,  while  approximating 
$100,000,  had  been  mainly  covered  by  insurance,  so  that  the  facilities 


266  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

of  the  school  were  not  decreased  by  the  fire,  but  rather  increased,  as 
its  building  was  improved  and  new  apparatus  speedily  supplied. 

In  1859  a  valuable  addition  was  made  to  its  equipment  by  the  erec- 
tion of  a  small  dispensary  building,  where  the  treatment  of  disease 
could  be  brought  more  directly  under  the  inspection  of  its  students. 
Up  to  its  temporary  suspension  in  1862,  the  school  had  had  1,067 
graduates,  the  largest  single  class  during  this  period  being  that  of 
1850,  which  graduated  113  members.  The  classes  of  1864  and  1865 
were  comparatively  small,  but  that  of  1866  again  reached  the  respect- 
able proportions  of  87  graduates. 

In  September  of  this  last  year  the  Kentucky  School  of  Medicine  was 
temporarily  united  with  the  university,  a  combined  faculty  of  ten 
members  taking  the  place  of  the  former  separate  faculties.  This  fac- 
ulty was  constituted  as  follows:  Llewellyn  Powell,  M.  D.,  professor  of 
obstetric  medicine;  H.  M.  Bullitt,  M.  D.,  professor  of  the  principles 
and  practice  of  medicine;  G.  W.  Bayless,  M.  D.,  professor  of  the  prin- 
ciples and  practice  of  surgery;  C.  W.  Wright,  M.  D.,  professor  of 
chemistry;  J.  M.  Hollo  way,  M.  D.,  professor  of  physiology;  L.  J. 
Frazee,  M.  D.,  professor  of  materia  medica  and  therapeutics;  J.  M. 
Bodine,  M.  D.,  professor  of  anatomy;  A.  B.  Cook,  M.  D.,  professor  of 
surgical  diseases  of  the  genito-urinary  organs  and  rectum;  J.  A. 
Ireland,  M.  D.,  professor  of  clinical  medicine;  J.  W.  Benson,  M.  D., 
professor  of  clinical  surgery.  Drs.  T.  S.  Bell  and  Lewis  Rogers  were 
also  emeritus  professors,  respectively,  of  the  science  and  practice 
of  medicine  and  public  hygiene,  and  materia  medica  and  clinical 
medicine.  Dr.  Benson  was  dean  of  the  faculty. 

This  union  of  the  two  schools  only  lasted  about  a  year,  as  the  uni- 
versity faculty  was  reorganized  in  May,  1867.  It  was  then  composed 
of  Drs.  Powell,  Rogers,  Bayless,  Bullitt,  Wright,  and  Bodine,  men- 
tioned above,  with  the  addition  of  Drs.  Henry  Miller  and  D.  W.  Yan- 
dell,  who  had  formerly  been  connected  with  it.  Drs.  Powell,  Bayless, 
Wright,  and  Bodine  held  their  former  chairs,  while  Dr.  Rogers,  now 
an  active  professor,  held  that  of  materia  medica  and  therapeutics; 
Dr.  Bullitt,  that  of  physiology  and  pathology;  Dr.  Miller,  that  of 
medical  and  surgical  diseases  of  women,  and  Dr.  Yandell,  that  of  the 
science  and  practice  of  medicine.  Dr.  Bodine  had  become  dean  of 
the  united  faculty  in  January,  1867,  upon  the  resignation  of  the  posi- 
tion by  Dr.  Benson,  a  relation  which  was  continued  under  the  reor- 
ganized university  faculty,  and  one  which  has  since  been  maintained, 
much  to  the  advantage  of  the  institution. 

The  university  has  always  been  in  hearty  sympathy  with  every 
proposition  to  advance  the  standard  of  medical  education,  but,  look- 
ing as  it  necessarily  does  to  the  South  and  West  -for  patronage,  has 
not  always  been  able  to  take  the  stand  in  favor  of  these  that  it  would 
have  otherwise  done,  owing  to  the  competition  of  other  colleges  in  the 
same  territory.  Its  course  was  originally  one  year  of  lectures,  with  a 


UNIVERSITY    OF    LOUISVILLE.  267 

preliminary  requirement  of  three  years'  office  study,  and  remained  so 
for  many  years.  In  1876,  upon  the  formation  of  the  American  Medical 
College  Association,  of  which  it  became  a  member,  its  requirements 
for  graduation  were  made  two  years'  lecture  courses  with  one  year's 
preliminary  study.  In  1892  it  took  part  in  the  organization  of  the 
Southern  Medical  College  Association,  and  in  1893,  according  to  the 
laws  of  that  body,  required  a  preliminary  admission  requirement  at 
least  equal  to  a  second-grade  teacher's  certificate,  and  the  student 
was  required  to  take  instruction  in  the  laboratories  of  practical  chem- 
istry, microscopical  technology,  normal  and  pathological  histology, 
bacteriology,  ophthalmoscopy,  laryngoscopy,  otoscopy,  operative 
surgery  and  surgical  dressings,  besides  attending  upon  three  courses 
of  lectures  of  not  less  than  six  months  each  in  three  separate  years, 
during  which  the  student  must  take  two  courses  in  dissection  and 
two  courses  of  clinical  or  hospital  instruction  as  a  prerequisite  to 
graduation.  In  1895  the  institution  became  a  member  of  the  associa- 
tion of  American  medical  colleges  and  advanced  its  matriculation 
requirements  and  its  standard  of  graduation  up  to  the  rules  of  that 
association,  which  require  attendance  upon  four  years'  lectures  for 
students  graduating  after  1899. 

Meanwhile  the  equipment  of  the  school  has  been  kept  abreast  of 
these  increasing  requirements  for  its  doctorate.  In  1888  a  commodious 
dispensary  was  constructed,  the  plans  and  arrangements  of  which 
were  well  suited  for  conducting  a  large  poly  clinic.  Besides  its  original 
chemical  equipment,  it  has  from  time  to  time  established  special  labor- 
atories for  practical  demonstration  and  for  teaching  students  the  use 
of  instruments,  especially  those  of  precision  required  in  diagnosis.  In 

1879  special  laboratories  in  medical  chemistry,  ophthalmoscopy,  laryn- 
goscop}^  otoscopy,  histology,  and  microscopy  were  opened,  and  in 

1880  one  for  surgical  dressings  was  added.     These  various  laboratories 
have  been  steadily  enlarged  and  increasingly  provided  with  all  the 
instruments  and  appliances  which  experience  has  shown  to  be  needed 
in  a  well-conducted  institution.     The  regular  chemical  laboratory  is 
one  of  the  largest  in  America.     The  library  and  anatomical  apparatus 
of  the  school  are  also  modern.     In  1896   its  clinical  instruction  was 
enlarged  by  the  addition  of  three  new  chairs  fco  its  faculty,  those  of 
clinical  professor  of  diseases  of  the  eye,  ear,  nose,  and  throat,  clinical 
professor  of  diseases  of  children,  and  clinical  professor  of  genito-uri- 
nary  diseases.     Medical  j  urisprudence  has  been  taught  for  many  years 
by  a  competent  lecturer,  and  instruction  in  all  the  departments  of  a 
modern  medical  course  is  now  offered  annually  by  the  members  of  the 
faculty  of  the  institution. 

The  number  of  students  in  attendence  upon  the  medical  department 
of  the  university  since  1869  has  rarely  fallen  below  200  annually,  and 
has  frequently  gone  over  300.  The  largest  attendance  in  any  single 
year  was  426  in  1892-93.  The  average  attendance  for  the  last  ten 


268  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

years  has  been  313. 1  The  number  of  graduates  each  year  has  usually 
been  about  100,  the  largest  number  in  any  one  year  being  209  in 
1893-94.  The  average  for  the  past  ten  years  has  been  125.  The  total 
number  of  graduates,  from  the  foundation  of  the  school  up  to  1898, 
inclusive,  is  4,831. 

The  advancement  of  the  requirements  for  matriculation  and  gradu- 
ation in  recent  years  has  somewhat  reduced  the  number  of  matriculates 
and  graduates,  but  the  reduction  has  not  been  greater  than  has  been 
usual  in  other  similar  institutions.  The  graduates  of  the  school  have 
won  much  distinction  in  their  profession  and  as  teachers,  those  who 
have  gone  into  teaching  having  filled  chairs  in  New  York,  Philadel- 
phia, New  Orleans  and  other  centers  of  medical  education.  It  has 
furnished  seven  presidents  to  the  American  Medical  Association. 

The  following,  a  practically  complete  list  of  its  professors  from  its 
foundation  to  the  present  time,  will  doubtless  be  of  some  interest: 
Charles  Caldwell,  1837-1849;  John  Esten  Cooke,  1837-1844;  Lunsford 
P.  Yandell,  sr.,  1837-1859;  Henry  Miller,  1837-1858  and  1867-1869; 
Jedediah  Cobb,  1837-1852;  Joshua  B.  Flint,  1837-1840  and  1856-1858; 
Charles  W.  Short,  1838-1849;  Daniel  Drake,  1839-1849  and  1850-1852; 
Samuel D.  Gross,  1840-1850 and  1851-1855 ; 2  Elisha  Bartlett,  1849-1850; 
Lewis  Rogers,  1 849-1856 2  and  1863-1868;  Benjamin  Silliman,  jr.,  1849- 
1854;  Paul  F.  Eve,  1849-1850;  Austin  Flint,  1852-1855; 2  Benjamin  R. 
Palmer,  1852-1865;  J.  Lawrence  Smith,  1854-1866;  Robert  J.  Breck- 
inridge,  1855-1861; 2  T.  S.  Bell,  1856-18672  and  1868-1885;  Llewellyn 
Powell,  1858-1868;  J.  W.  Benson,  1858-1864  and  1866-67;  David  W. 
Yandell,  1859-1861  and  1867-1897;  S.  M.  Bemiss,  1861-62  and  1865-66; 
G.  W.  Bayless,  1863-1873;  J.  M.  Holloway,  1865-1867;  H.  M.  Bullitt, 
1866-1868;  C.  W.Wright,1866-1868;  J.  M.  Bodine,  1866  to  date;  Edward 
Palmer,  1868-1895;  L.  P.  Yandell,  jr.,  1868-1884;  John  E.  Crowe,  1868- 
1881;  James  W.  Holland,  1869-1885;  Theophilus  Parvin,  1869-1872 
and  1882-83;  Richard  O.  Cowling,  1873-1881;  W.  O.  Roberts,  1881  to 
date;  J.  A.  Ouchterlony,  1882  to  date;  Turner  Anderson,  1884  to  date; 
H.  A.  Cottell,  1884  to  date;  William  Bailey,  1885  to  date;  H.  M.  Good- 
man, 1895  to  date;  J.  M.  Ray,  1896  to  date;  R.  B.  Gilbert,  1896-  to 
date;  I.  N.  Bloom,  1896  to  date. 

This  list  includes  the  combined  faculty  of  the  University  and  the 
Kentucky  School  of  Medicine  in  1866-67.  No  attempt  has  been  made 
to  give  the  chairs  of  the  different  professors,  as  these  have  been 
changed  so  often  as  to  make  the  task  quite  impossible. 

The  following  have  been  the  deans,  or  chief  executive  officers,  of 
the  faculty,  to  whom  a  large  part  of  the  success  of  the  school  is  to  be 
attributed :  Jedediah  Cobb,  from  1837  to  1852 ;  Lunsford  P.  Yandell,  sr. , 

1  The  students  come  mainly  from  the  Southern  and  Western  States,  but  have 
at  times  represented  as  many  as  33  of  the  States  and  Territories,  and  3  foreign 
countries. 

2  These  dates  are  a  little  uncertain,  but  are  approximately  correct. 


UNIVERSITY    OF    LOUISVILLE.  269 

from  1852  to  1859;  J.  W.  Benson,  from  1859  to  1863,  and  again  from 
1866  to  1867  (January) ;  G.  W.  Bayless,  from  1863  to  1866,  and  J.  M. 
Bodine,  from  1867  (January)  to  the  present  time. 

The  following  are  the  present  regular  professors  of  the  institution, 
with  the  chair  of  each:  J.  M.  Bodine,  M.  D.,  professor  of  anatomy 
and  dean  of  the  faculty;  W.  O.  Roberts,  M.  D.,  professor  of  prin- 
ciples and  practice  of  surgery  and  clinical  surgery;  J.  A.  Ouchterlony, 
A.  M.,  M.  D.,  LL.  D.,  professor  of  principles  and  practice  of  medi- 
cine and  clinical  medicine;  H.  A.  Cottell,  M.  D.,  professor  of  physi- 
ology, histology,  and  clinical  diseases  of  the  nervous  system ;  Turner 
Anderson,  M.  D.,  professor  of  obstetrics  and  gynecology;  William 
Bailey,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  materia  medica,  therapeutics, 
and  public  hygiene;  H.  M.  Goodman,  A.  B.,  M.  D.,  professor  of 
medical  chemistry;  J.  M.  Ray,  M.  D.,  clinical  professor  of  diseases 
of  the  eye,  ear,  nose,  and  throat;  R.  B.  Gilbert,  M.  D.,  clinical  pro- 
fessor of  diseases  of  children  and  demonstrator  of  anatomy;  I.  N. 
Bloom,  A.  B.,  M.  D.,  clinical  professor  of  genito-urinary  diseases. 
The  faculty  includes,  besides  these,  sixteen  lecturers,  demonstrators, 
and  assistants  of  various  kinds. 

THE   LAW   DEPARTMENT. 

This  department  of  the  university  is  ordinarily  called  the  Louisville 
Law  School,  and  was  organized,  according  to  the  terms  of  the  uni- 
versity charter  of  February  7,  1846,  at  the  same  time  that  Louisville 
Medical  Institute  became  the  medical  department  of  the  universitj" 
under  by-laws  adopted  by  the  board  of  trustees  on  May  18,  1846. 
Those  who  may  be  mentioned  as  taking  perhaps  the  leading  part  in 
its  establishment  are  Hon.  James  Guthrie  and  Judge  Henry  Pirtle, 
the  latter  for  a  long  time  being  one  of  its  most  prominent  professors. 
Mr.  Guthrie,  who  was  prominent  in  local,  State,  and  national  politics 
before  and  after  this  time,  had  been  previously  connected  with  the 
board  of  managers  of  Louisville  Medical  Institute  and  had  taken  a 
great  interest  in  its  welfare.  He  did  much  to  promote  the  foundation 
of  the  larger  institution,  with  all  the  departments  of  a  university,  con- 
templated by  the  charter  of  1846,  which  movement,  as  already  noticed, 
only  resulted  in  the  addition  of  a  law  school  to  the  former  medical 
school,  the  two  forming  the  professional  departments  of  a  university 
which  as  yet  has  had  no  others. 

The  law  department  of  the  university  was  opened  in  the  fall  of  1846, 
and  had  as  its  first  faculty  Henry  Pirtle,  professor  of  constitutional 
law,  equity  and  equity  pleadings,  and  commercial  law;  Garnett  Dun- 
can, professor  of  the  science  of  law  and  the  law  of  nations ;  Preston 
S.  Loughborough,  professor  of  the  practice  of  law,  including  actions, 
pleadings,  evidence,  and  criminal  law.  This  faculty,  as  has  been  the 
case  with  subsequent  ones,  was  composed  of  able  lawyers  and  jurists, 
but  of  these  Judge  Pirtle,  as  he  was  ordinarily  called,  was  perhaps 


270  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

the  most  distinguished  and  the  one  destined  to  be  most  closely  con- 
nected with  the  school.  He  had  studied  under  the  noted  John  Rowan, 
greatly  distinguished  as  an  advocate,  a  judge,  and  a  United  States 
Senator;  had  become  a  circuit  judge  at  the  early  age  of  28,  and  had 
subsequently  held  some  of  the  highest  judicial  positions  in  the  State. 

He  was  for  twenty-seven  years  a  professor  of  the  law  school,  and  was  more 
potent  than  any  other  one  man  in  shaping  its  destinies.  He  was  a  profound  law- 
yer, particularly  in  the  equity  branches,  and  was  to  the  end  of  his  life  an  enthu- 
siastic and  laborious  student  in  many  fields  of  learning.1 

.Professor  Duncan  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  bar  of  Kentucky, 
and  was  possessed  of  a  deep  knowledge  of  legal  science.  He  only 
remained  connected  with  the  school  for  one  year,  being  succeeded  in 
1847  by  Ephraim  M.  Ewing,  who  also  held  an  honorable  position  in 
the  judicial  annals  of  the  State. 

Of  Professor  Loughborough  it  has  been  said : 

As  a  professor  he  moved  with  familiar  steps  over  the  department  of  jurispru- 
dence confided  to  his  teaching,  and  as  a  practitioner  he  may  be  said  to  have  illus- 
trated the  law  by  his  learning  and  sagacity.  - 

He  remained  identified  with  the  school  until  just  prior  to  his  death 
in  1852,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  James  Pryor. 

The  original  requirements  of  the  law  department  of  the  university 
were  one  year's  office  practice  and  one  year's  lectures,  or  two  years' 
lectures.  The  latter  has  been  the  uniform  requirement  in  recent 
years.  There  were  30  students  in  attendance  during  its  first  term,  of 
whom  12  received  diplomas  at  the  end  of  the  year.  The  attendance 
of  the  second  year  was  considerably  larger,  and  at  its  end  23  degrees 
were  conferred.  The  school  was  uniformly  successful  up  to  the 
period  of  the  civil  war,  its  graduating  class  numbering  36  in  1860,  and 
almost  as  many  in  1861.  It  continued  its  sessions  during  the  war, 
but  of  course  its  matriculation  was  very  much  reduced,  the  operations 
of  the  war  covering  for  some  time  a  considerable  part  of  the  territory 
from  which  it  drew  its  students.  By  1866  its  classes  had  again  risen 
to  some  what  of  their  former  size,  and  its  patronage  has  since  continued 
generally  good,  the  graduating  class  it  now  usually  sends  out  annually 
approximating  very  closely  the  largest  one  of  antebellum  days. 

The  present  course  of  study  is  designed  for  two  sessions  of  seven 
months  each.  The  junior  class  pursues  courses  in  elementary  and 
constitutional  law,  mercantile  law,  law  of  corporations,  law  of  con- 
tracts, law  of  pleading,  criminal  law,  and  law  of  torts;  while  the 
senior  class  investigates  equity  jurisprudence,  law  of  corporations, 
law  of  evidence,  law  of  code  pleading,  and  law  of  real  property.  The 
method  of  instruction  is  one  in  which  the  use  of  lectures,  of  text- 
books, and  the  discussion  and  dissection  of  test  cases  are  combined. 
The  whole  is  illustrated  and  enforced  by  a  moot  court,  which  meets 


1  Announcement  of  1896-97,  p.  6. 

2  Announcement  of  1897-98,  p.  7. 


UNIVERSITY    OF    LOUISVILLE.  271 

regularly  and  conforms  to  all  the  rules  and  practices  of  judicial  pro- 
cedure. The  students  have  free  access  to  the  Louisville  Law  Library  ? 
which  contains  about  10,000  volumes.  They  can  also  attend  without 
extra  expense  the  lectures  on  medical  jurisprudence  in  the  medical 
department  of  the  university.  By  an  act  of  the  State  legislature  of 
December  20,  1873,  the  diploma  of  the  law  school  is  equivalent  to  a 
license  to  practice  law  in  Kentucky. 

The  matriculates  of  the  school  have  come  mainly  from  Kentucky 
and  the  adjoining  States,  but  its  alumni,  who  up  to  1898,  inclusive, 
number  1,034,  are  to  be  found  in  almost  every  State  of  the  Union. 
Many  of  these  have  reached  distinction  at  the  bar  and  in  politics. 
They  include  in  their  number  many  judges  and  Congressmen,  a  nomi- 
nee for  the  Vice-Presidency,  and  at  least  one  governor  of  a  State. 

The  following  is  a  complete  list  of  the  professors  of  the  institution 
from  its  foundation :  Henry  Pirtle,  1846-1873;  Garnett  Duncan,  1846-47; 
Preston  S.  Loughborough,  1846-1852;  Ephraim  M.  Ewing,  1847-1849; 
William  F.  Bullock,  1849-1871;  James  Pryor,  1852-1856;  James  Speed, 
1856-1858  and  1873-1876;  John  Preston,  1858-59;  Horatio  F.  Simrall, 
1859-1862;  Peter  B.  Muir,  1862-1868;  Henry  J.  Stites,  1868-1872; 
Bland  Ballard,  1871-1873;  Thomas  E.  Bramlette,  1872-73;  James  S. 
Pirtle,  1873-1881;  Horatio  W.  Bruce,  1873-1880;  William  Chenault, 
1879-1886;  Henry  C.  Pinnell,  1880-81;  Rozel  Weissinger,  1884-1890; 
Emmet  Field,  1884  to  date;  W.  O.  Harris,  1886  to  date;  Charles  B. 
Seymour,  1890  to  date. 

For  many  years  prior  to  1897,  for  the  greater  convenience  of  its 
professors,  its  sessions  were  conducted  in  the  building  known  as  the 
Bull  Block,  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Fifth  and  Market  streets,  but 
having  in  that  year  outgrown  those  quarters,  the  session  of  1897-98 
was  held  in  the  home  originally  designed  for  it — the  law  building  of 
the  university,  on  Chestnut  street  near  Ninth  street,  occupied  since 
1856  by  the  city  male  high  school. 

The  present  faculty  consists  of:  Hon.  W.  O.  Harris,  LL.  B.,  pro- 
fessor of  the  law  of  real  property,  of  criminal  law,  and  law  of  torts; 
Hon.  Emmet  Field,  LL.  B.,  professor  of  pleading,  evidence,  and  law 
of  contracts;  Charles  B.  Seymour,  A.  M.,  B.  S.,  professor  of  equity 
jurisprudence,  of  mercantile  law,  and  law  of  corporations. 

As  has  been  said,  Judge  Henry  Pirtle  was  for  a  long  time  a  leading 
spirit  in  the  school.  Since  1890  Hon.  W.  O.  Harris  has  been  its  effi- 
cient dean,  or  chief  executive  officer. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Collins's  Sketches;  Collins's  History;  McMurtrie's  Sketches  of  Louisville;  Col- 
onel Durrett's  articles  in  Courier-Journal  of  January  2,  9,  16,  23,  and  30,  1881. 

Sketch  of  the  Medical  Department,  in  Courier- Journal  of  August  9,  1869;  Wil- 
liams's  Ohio  Falls  Cities  and  their  Counties. 

Louisville,  her  Commercial,  Manufacturing,  and  Social  Advantages,  by  Richard 
Deering,  Louisville,  1859. 


272  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

A  History  of  Louisville,  by  Ben  Casseday,  Louisville,  1852. 

Louisville,  Past  and  Present,  by  M.  Joblin  &  Co.,  Louisville,  1875. 

Address  by  Dr.  D.  W.  Yandell  on  the  Semicentennial  of  the  Medical  Department, 
Fifty-first  Announcement,  pp.  24-32. 

Articles  by  T.  M.  Goodknight  in  the  Southern  School. 

A  sketch  of  the  law  department  and  its  first  faculty  is  to  be  found  in  the 
announcements  of  that  department  for  1894-95,  1897-98,  and  1898-99. 


DANVILLE    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY,  DANVILLE. 

The  official  title  of  this  institution,  according  to  the  plan  adopted 
for  its  regulation  in  1854,  is  The  Danville  Theological  Seminary,  under 
the  care  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America.  It  was  established  by  that  church  in  1853 
to  supply  proper  theological  training  for  its  ministry,  primarity  in 
the  Southwest  and  West.  The  Presbyterians  of  Kentucky  early  con- 
templated the  establishment  of  a  theological  seminary  in  their  midst. 
The  amendment  to  the  charter  of  Centre  College,  secured  on  January 
27,  1824,  and  placing  the  institution  under  their  control,  made  pro- 
vision for  a  theological  department,  with  one  or  more  professors,  and 
we  have  seen  in  connection  with  the  history  of  that  institution  that 
such  a  department,  with  one  professor,  Rev.  James  K.  Burch,  was 
attached  to  it  in  1828,  but  was  not  long  maintained,  owing  to  a  lack 
of  sufficient  endowment.  However,  the  $2,000  raised  toward  an 
endowment  at  that  time  was  carefully  husbanded  and  afterwards 
formed  a  part  of  the  funds  offered  by  the  synod  of  Kentucky  for  the 
establishment  of  Danville  Theological  Seminary,  amounting  then  to 
about  $5,500.  Subsequent  to  the  abandonment  of  the  theological 
department  of  Centre,  another  fund  was  raised  by  this  synod  for  theo- 
logical education.  It  amounted  to  about  $22,000,  and  was  later  united 
with  the  Centre  College  fund  into  what  was  known  as  the  Seminary 
fund.  This  was,  by  a  legislative  act  of  March  1,  1850,  put  under  the 
control  of  trustees,  and  its  income  was  for  a  time  used  to  support  a 
professor  in  the  Presbyterian  Theological  Seminary  at  New  Albany, 
Ind.,  an  institution  supported  and  controlled  by  seven  of  the  western 
synods  of  the  church. 

There  was  a  desire,  however,  on  the  part  of  these  synods,  especially 
that  of  Kentucky,  to  have  located  in  the  West,  as  the  central  Missis- 
sippi Valley  was  then  called,  a  seminary  of  the  first  class  under  the 
control  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  church.  This  desire  was 
voiced  by  a  meeting  of  representatives  of  these  synods,  joined  by  four 
other  western  ones,  held  in  conjunction  with  the  session  of  the  Gen- 
eral Asseinbj7  of  the  church  in  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  in  May,  1853.  The 
participating  synods  were  those  of  Nashville,  Kentucky,  Cincinnati, 
Indiana,  North  Indiana,  Missouri,  Mississippi,  Memphis,  Illinois,  Ohio, 
and  Arkansas,  and  their  representatives  passed  unanimously  the  fol- 


DANVILLE    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY.  273 

lowing  resolution,  together  with  some  others  in  regard  to  the  location 
and  other  specific  matters  concerning  the  proposed  institution: 

That  we  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  General  Assembly  ought  at  this  time  to 
establish  in  the  West,  under  its  own  care,  a  theological  seminary  of  the  first  class, 
and  that  we  will  earnestly  labor  to  have  it  done. 

The  matter  was  duly  brought  before  the  assembly,1  its  presentation 
being  accompanied  by  an  overture  from  the  twelve  commissioners 
from  Kentucky,  proposing,  if  the  assembly  should  establish  such  a 
seminary,  to  give  toward  its  endowment,  wherever  it  should  be 
located,  $20,000,  and  if  it  should  be  located  at  Danville,  Ky.,  to  make 
their  contribution  $60,000  and  10  acres  of  land. 

Rev.  Robert  J.  Breckinridge,  who  had  taken  a  prominent  part  in  the 
meeting  of  the  representatives  of  the  synods,  and  also  in  drawing  up 
the  overture  from  the  Kentucky  commissioners,  presented  the  latter, 
with  other  papers,  before  the  assembly,  as  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  theological  seminaries,  in  a  very  forcible  way,  and  was  largely 
instrumental  in  bringing  about  the  subsequent  action.  He  may  thus, 
more  than  anyone  else  perhaps,  be  called  the  founder  of  Danville 
Theological  Seminary,  of  whose  faculty  he  was  also  for  many  years  a 
very  prominent  member. 

The  assembly  on  May  26  voted  to  establish  the  desired  seminary, 
on  Majr  27  accepted  the  proposition  of  the  Kentucky  commissioners 
and  located  it  at  Danville,  and  on  May  30  placed  it  under  the  imme- 
diate control  of  a  board  of  54  directors,  one-third  of  whom  were  to  be 
elected  each  year.  On  the  same  day  it  declared  the  institution  should 
be  conducted  provisionally  on  the  plan  of  Princeton  Seminary,  New 
Jersey,  and  should  be  opened  on  October  13,  1853.  On  the  next  day 
it  elected  the  first  faculty  of  the  school,  composed  as  follows :  Rev. 
Robert  J.  Breckinridge,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  professor  of  exegetical,  didactic, 
and  polemic  theology;  Rev.  E.  P.  Humphrey,  D.  D.,  professor  of  Bib- 
lical and  ecclesiastical  history;  Rev.  B.  M.  Palmer,  D.  D.,  professor 
of  oriental  and  Biblical  literature;  Rev.  Phineas  B.  Gurley,  D.  D., 
professor  of  pastoral  theology,  church  government,  and  construction 
and  delivery  of  sermons. 

A  charter  was  afterwards  secured  for  the  institution  by  a  legislative 
act  of  January  28,  1854,  which  placed  the  management  of  its  finances 
in  the  hands  of  a  board  of  not  more  than  18  trustees,  9  of  whom  must 
be  from  Kentucky,  and  whose  appointment  was  vested  in  the  assembly. 
Its  aifairs,  outside  of  its  finances,  still  remained  under  the  control  of 
its  directors. 

Drs.  Gurley  and  Palmer  having  declined  the  chairs  to  which  they 
had  been  elected,  the  seminary  was  opened  at  the  appointed  date,  with 
Drs.  Breckinridge  and  Humphrey  as  professors,  assisted  by  Joseph  G. 
Reasor  as  instructor  in  oriental  and  Biblical  literature.  An  arrange- 

1  Catalogue  of  1853-54,  p.  14. 
2127— No.  25 18 


274  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

ment  had  been  made  on  June  30,  1853.  between  a  committee  of  the 
assembly  and  the  trustees  of  Centre  College  b}^  which,  until  the  semi- 
nary could  provide  itself  with  suitable  quarters,  it  was  to  have  the  use 
of  the  college  buildings  as  far  as  such  use  would  not  interfere  with  the 
latter's  interests.  This  is  the  beginning  of  a  close  alliance  in  spirit 
and  management  between  the  two  institutions,  although  there  has 
never  been  any  organic  connection  between  them.  The  students  of 
the  seminary  have  always  had  free  access  to  the  college  classes,  and 
the  library  of  each  institution  has  always  been  freely  accessible  to  the 
professors  and  students  of  the  other. 

The  seminary  was  conducted  the  first  year  under  the  Princeton 
plan,  but  the  assembly  of  1854  adopted  for  it  a  plan  drawn  up  by  a 
committee  appointed  for  the  purpose  the  previous  year,  the  essential 
principle  of  which  was  that  the  students  should  not  be  arranged  in 
regular  classes  except  in  Hebrew,  in  which  there  were  to  be  two  divi- 
sions according  to  the  stage  of  advancement,  but  were  to  be  taught 
together,  as  in  other  professional  schools,  every  student  attending 
every  public  exercise  of  every  professor  as  long  as  he  was  connected 
with  the  institution.  The  completion  of  a  certain  number  of  exercises 
in  a  creditable  manner,  which  usually  required  three  years,  qualified 
for  graduation.  This  plan  was  used  continuously  in  the  seminary 
until  1876. 

There  were  23  regular  students,  from  five  of  the  Southern  and  West- 
ern States,  in  attendance  on  the  seminary  during  its  first  year.  By 
1854  the  church  in  Kentucky  had  done  more  than  had  been  pledged, 
as  she  had  subscribed  $65,000  toward  the  funds  of  the  institution,  and 
in  the  summer  of  this  year  a  substantial  and  commodious  building 
was  purchased  for  its  accommodation.  The  means  to  purchase  this, 
as  well  as  to  pay  the  running  expenses  of  the  school  for  three  years, 
were  entirely  contributed  by  the  synod  of  Kentucky,  as  has  also  been 
the  case  with  its  endowment  mainly,  which  has  been  given  almost 
entirely  by  Kentucky  and  the  eastern  half  of  Tennessee.  Its  funds 
had  in  1859  accumulated  to  $131,749,  of  which  amount  all  but  about 
$20,000  came  from  Kentucky.  In  1854-55  there  were  37  students  in 
attendance,  and  in  1855-56,  45.  In  the  latter  year  Rev.  Stuart  Robin- 
son, D.  D.,  became  professor  of  pastoral  theology  and  church  govern- 
ment in  the  institution.  He  only  remained  connected  with  the  faculty 
for  about  two  years,  but  before  his  resignation  Rev.  Stephen  Yerkes, 
in  June,  1857,  took  Instructor  Reasor's  place  as  professor  of  oriental 
and  Biblical  literature,  thus  for  the  first  time  completing  the  faculty 
as  originally  contemplated.  During  the  next  session  there  were  40 
students  in  attendance,  who  represented  fourteen  States  of  the  Union 
and  one  foreign  country. 

Dr.  Yerkes  remained  closely  identified  with  the  history  of  the  semi- 
nary until  his  death  and  had  a  very  potent  influence  on  its  later 
development,  perhaps  more  so  than  any  other  one  man  outside  of 


DANVILLE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.  275 

Dr.  Breckinridge.  Rev.  Joseph  T.  Smitli  was  professor  of  church  gov- 
ernment and  pastoral  theology  for  a  part  of  the  year  1860-61,  but  that 
chair  was  not  occupied  again  regularly  until  1867.  The  highest  num- 
ber of  students  during  any  year  prior  to  the  civil  war,  in  fact  any 
year  in  the  history  of  the  institution,  was  in  1859-60,  when  53  were  in 
attendance.  Up  to  1859,  inclusive,  there  had  been  altogether  115 
separate  students  and  43  graduates. 

The  seminary  was  in  operation  all  during  the  war,  but  its  attend- 
ance was  very  much  reduced,~not  only  by  the  disturbed  state  of  affairs 
generally,  but  by  the  disruption  which  began  in  the  church.  The 
total  enrollment  of  the  institution  up  to  September,  1865,  had  been 
372  students,  of  whom  81  had  completed  the  course.  The  Synod  of 
Kentucky  divided  in  1866  between  the  original  church  organization 
and  that  of  the  new  Southern  Presbyterian  Church,  but  the  seminary, 
as  well  as  Centre  College,  remained  under  the  control  of  the  original 
assembly,  ordinarily  called  that  of  the  Northern  Presbyterian  Church. 
The  results  of  the  war  practically  in  large  measure  isolated  the  institu- 
tion, as  a  large  part  of  the  church  in  its  original  field  went  over  into 
the  Southern  Presbytery,  and,  moreover,  in  1869,  by  the  union  of  the 
old  school  and  new  school  branches  of  its  own  church  organization,  it 
was  brought  into  competition  in  the  same  field  with  Lane  Seminary, 
at  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  These  facts  account  for  its  slow  process  of  re- 
cuperation and  growth  since  the  war. 

At  the  end  of  that  struggle  the  institution  was  left  in  a  very  crip- 
pled condition,  with  two  of  its  professorships  vacant.  So,  in  1868,  as 
also  in  1809,  it  held  only  a  short  summer  session,  8  students  being  in 
attendance  the  first  of  these  years  and  10  the  second. 

On  December  1,  1869,  Dr.  Breckinridge,  after  having  taught  with 
great  distinction  and  success  in  the  seminary  for  about  sixteen  years, 
resigned  his  professorship  on  account  of  failing  health.  He  died  on 
December  27,  1871.  A  member  of  a  celebrated  Kentucky  family,  he 
had  graduated  at  Union  College,  New  York,  in  1819,  when  19  years 
of  age.  At  first  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  law,  but  in  1832  he 
entered  the  ministry  and  was  for  about  thirteen  years  the  brilliant 
and  successful  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  of  Balti- 
more, Md.  He  was  then  the  president,  for  two  years,  of  Jefferson 
College,  Washington,  Pa.,  after  which  he  removed  to  his  native  State 
to  engage  for  a  short  while  in  pastoral  work  in  Lexington,  but  mainly 
to  devote  his  great  energy  and  ability  to  the  cause  of  education  in 
the  service  of  the  State  and  his  church.  We  have  already  noticed 
that  he  was  mainly  instrumental  in  establishing  the  seminary,  and 
shall  see  in  another  connection  what  a  great  work  he  did  for  the  cause 
of  common-school  education  in  Kentucky.  His  influence  was  great 
not  only  in  Kentucky  but  throughout  the  country,  especially  in  church 
and  educational  circles.  He  was  noted  as  a  preacher,  debater,  and 
journalist,  as  well  as  a  teacher. 


276  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

After  Dr.  Breckinridge's  resignation  in  1809,  Dr.  Yerkes's  chair  was 
made  that  of  Biblical  literature  and  exegetical  theology,  and  as  senior 
professor  he  became  chairman  of  the  faculty,  a  position  he  retained 
for  about  twenty-seven  years,  during  which  time  his  was  the  guiding 
hand  in  seminary  affairs.  In  1870,  a  full  faculty  was  secured  for  the 
institution  and  a  regular  session  held,  which  had,  however,  only  6 
students  in  attendance.  From  1871  to  1874  its  sessions  were  practically 
suspended.  One  of  its  professors,  however,  remained  in  charge  during 
this  time  to  give  such  instruction  as  might  be  requested.  During 
this  period,  in  1873,  the  plan  of  management  was  changed  in  such  a 
way  as  to  bring  it  into  harmony  with  that  adopted  in  1869  for  the  con- 
trol of  all  the  seminaries  of  the  church.  Under  this  arrangement  the 
institution  has  since  been  controlled  by  a  bodj7^  of  30  self-perpetuating 
directors,  one-third  of  whom  are  replaced  each  year,  and  who  have  in 
the  first  instance  the  management  of  all  the  affairs  of  the  seminary, 
the  general  assembly  reserving  to  itself  only  a  final  residuary  control 
by  being  able  to  veto  absolutely  the  election  of  any  director  or  pro- 
fessor of  the  school. 

In  1876,  the  plan  of  instruction  previously  used  in  the  institution 
was  changed  so  as  to  become  similar  to  that  of  the  other  seminaries, 
and  its  students  were  for  the  first  time  divided  into  three  regular 
classes.  Soon  after  this  several  resignations  occurred  in  its  faculty 
and  as  the  number  of  students  had  declined  to  7  in  1882-83,  it  was 
thought  best  to  suspend  its  sessions  for  a  time.  This  was  done  with 
the  sanction  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  no  regular  session  was 
again  held  for  three  years,  Dr.  Yerkes  meanwhile  remaining  in  charge 
and  giving  such  instruction  as  was  desired  by  a  few  students. 

In  1886,  an  arrangement  was  made,  by  an  agreement  between  its 
board  of  directors  and  the  trustees  of  Centre  College,  to  open  the  semi- 
nary again  on  a  broader  basis,  its  management,  especially  in  regard 
to  the  personnel  of  its  faculty,  being  more  closely  associated  with  that 
of  the  college  than  formerly,  a  plan  which  has  since  been  continued 
to  a  considerable  extent.  The  reorganized  faculty  which  opened  the 
institution  in  September,  1886,  was  constituted  as  follows:  Rev. 
Stephen  Yerkes,  D.  D.,  Biblical  literature  and  exegetical  theology; 
Ormond  Beatt}%  LL.  D.,  historical  theology;  Rev.  C.  H.  B.  Martin, 
D.  D.,  systematic1  theology;  Rev.  John  L.  McKee,  homiletics  and 
pastoral  theology.  Dr.  Beatty  was,  at  that  time,  the  president  of 
Centre  College  and  Dr.  DcKee  its  vice-president,  while  Dr.  Martin 
was  then  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  in  Danville,  A 
full  and  regular  course  was  given  the  first  year  of  the  reopening  of 
the  seminary  and  10  regular  students  were  that  session  in  attendance 
upon  its  exercises.  Its  classes  have  not  been  large  since,  but  have 
gradually  increased  until  there  were  altogether  42  students  in  1896-97, 
the  largest  number  in  recent  years.  However  comparatively  small 

1  This  was  the  name  of  the  old  chair  of  didactic  and  polemic  theology. 


DANVILLE    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY.  277 

the  attendance  lias  been  at  any  time  since  the  reopening,  the  amount 
and  quality  of  the  instruction  given  has  not  been  diminished,  a  full 
faculty  having  been  constantly  maintained  and  a  regular  course 
offered. 

The  facilities  for  instruction  have  also  been  kept  first-class  and  the 
accommodations  offered  excellent.  The  library,  which  was  already 
called  extensive  and  valuable  in  1850,  has  been  added  to  from  year  to 
year,  by  donations  and  purchases,  so  as  to  meet  the  demands  of  mod- 
ern education.  It  has  recently  received  the  addition  of  the  extensive 
private  library  of  the  late  Dr.  Yerkes,  and  of  a  special  library  of 
about  1,000  volumes  of  the  best  modern  works,  given  by  Mr.  Anthony 
Dey,  of  New  York  City,  and  named  the  David  C.  Humphrey  library. 
In  1890  the  erection  of  a  fine,  new  building,  containing  commodious 
lecture  and  library  rooms,  besides  a  dormitory  for  students,  was 
begun  on  a  site  leased  from  Centre  College,  and  more  eligible  than 
the  old  one.  It  was  completed  in  1893,  at  a  cost  of  $25,000,  and  was 
named  Breckinridge  Hall,  in  honor  of  Dr.  Breckinridge,  the  revered 
member  of  the  first  seminary  faculty. 

The  endowrment  of  the  institution,  as  at  first  contemplated,  has 
never  been  completed,  no  important  benefactions  having  been  asked 
for  or  received  by  it  in  recen-i  years,  but  its  funds  contributed 
originally,  as  has  been  seen,  largely  by  Kentucky,  have  been  care- 
fully managed  and  have  accumulated  by  savings  until,  in  1896,  its 
entire  property,  including  its  library,  was  valued  at  about  $245,000. 

A  number  of  changes  have  in  recent  years  taken  place  in  the  semi- 
nary faculty.  In  1887  John  W.  Redd,  A.  M.,  of  the  Centre  College 
faculty,  was  added  to  it  as  professor  of  Biblical  Greek  and  New  Tes- 
ment  history,  and  Clarence  K.  Crawford,  A.  M.,  as  instructor  in 
Hebrew,  thus  making  provision  for  a  more  extended  course  of  study. 
In  1888  Rev.  W.  C.  Young,  D.  D.,  who  had  that  year  assumed  the 
presidency  of  Centre  College,  became  its  professor  of  pastoral  the- 
ology, a  chair  to  which  homiletics  was  attached  in  1891.  In  1890 
Professor  Redd  and  Dr.  Beatty1  retired  from  its  faculty,  and  Rev. 
John  M.  Worrall,  D.  D.,  was  elected  professor  of  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory, church  government,  and  English  Bible.  Upon  the  resignation 
of  the  regular  duties  of  his  chair  by  Dr.  McKee  in  1891,  most  of  these 
were  assigned  to  Dr.  Young,  while  at  the  same  time  Mr.  Crawford 
was  made  professor  of  Hebrew  and  Biblical  antiquities. 

On  March  28,  1896,  the  seminary  lost  by  death  its  senior  professor, 
Dr.  Yerkes,  so  long  the  honored  and  capable  chairman  of  its  facult}T. 
Dr.  Yerkes  had  graduated  at  Yale  in  1837,  when  20  years  of  age,  in 
the  class  with  Chief  Justice  Waite,  Professor  Silliman,  Hon.  Edwards 
Pierrepont,  Hon.  William  M.  Evarts,  and  other  prominent  public 
men.  He  had  then  taught  in  a  Presbyterian  high  school  near  Balti- 
more, Md.,  until  1852,  meanwhile  studying  theology  under  Dr.  Breck- 

1  Dr.  Beatty  has  since  died. 


278  HISTORY   OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

inridge,  and  engaging  somewhat  in  the  work  of  the  ministry.  In 
1852  he  was  elected  professor  of  ancient  languages  in  Transylvania 
University  at  Lexington,  Ky.,  from  which  position  he  was  called  in 
1857  to  a  professorship  in  the  seminary,  where  he  remained  for  nearly 
thirty-nine  years,  accomplishing  there  the  great  work  of  his  life. 
He  was  scholarly,  able,  and  faithful,  and  withal,  warmly  devoted  to 
his  work.  He  has  been  characterized  as  a  strong  man,  an  able  divine, 
a  wise  counselor,  a  ripe  scholar,  and  a  grand  teacher,1  and  was  one 
who  left  a  strong  impression  for  good  upon  all  who  came  under  his 
instruction.  On  September  10  of  the  year  of  Dr.  Yerkes's  death,  Dr. 
Young,  the  distinguished  and  efficient  president  of  Centre  College, 
who  had  been  connected  with  the  seminary  faculty  since  1888,  also 
died.  Consequently,  in  September,  1897,  two  new  members  were 
added  to  the  faculty,  William  H.  Johnson,  M.  A.,  and  J.  C.  Ely,  D.  D., 
making  the  present  teaching  body,  with  their  chairs,  to  consist  as 
follows:  John  M.  Worrall,  D.  D.,  Biblical  and  ecclesiastical  history 
and  church  government;  Claude  B.  H.  Martin,  D.  D.,  systematic  the- 
ology and  study  of  the  English  Bible;  Clarence  K.  Crawford,  A.  M., 
Old  Testament  languages  and  exegesis  and  Biblical  antiquities;  Wil- 
liam H.  Johnson,  M.  A.,  New  Testament  literature  and  exegesis; 
John  C.  Ely,  D.  D.,  homiletics.  Dr.  Worrall,  by  virtue  of  his  rank  as 
the  oldest  regular  professor,  is  chairman  of  the  faculty. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  all  the  professors  of  the  seminary  from  its 
foundation,  with  their  chairs  and  terms  of  service :  Robert  J.  Breck- 
inridge,  exegetical,  didactic,  and  polemic  theology,  May,  1853,  to 
December,  1869;  Edward  P.  Humphrey,  Biblical  and  ecclesiastical 
history,  May,  1853,  to  May,  1866;  Joseph  G.  Reasor,  instructor,  Bib- 
lical and  oriental  literature,  September,  1853,  to  May,  1857;  Stuart 
Robinson,  church  government  and  pastoral  theology,  September, 
1856,  to  April,  1858;  Stephen  Yerkes,  Biblical  and  oriental  literature, 
June,  1857,  to  November,  1869,  biblical  literature  and  exegetical 
theology,  November,  1869,  to  March,  1896;  Joseph  T.  Smith,  church 
government  and  pastoral  theology,  May,  1860,  to  December,  1860; 
Robert  W.  Landis,  church  government  and  pastoral  theology,  May, 
1867,  to  November,  1869;  Nathaniel  West,  Biblical  and  ecclesiastical 
history,  June,  1868,  to  June,  1870,  didactic  and  polemic  theology, 
June,  1870,  to  June,  1873;  George  D.  Archibald,  church  government 
and  pastoral  theology,  June,  1870,  to  September,  1872,  church  gov- 
ernment and  pastoral  theology,  June,  1874,  to  May,  1883;  Samuel  J. 
McMullin,  Biblical  and  ecclesiastical  history,  June,  1870,  to  Septem- 
ber, 1872;  Nathan  L.  Rice,  didactic  and  polemic  theology,  June,  1874, 
to  April,  1877 ;  John  S.  Hays,  Biblical  and  ecclesiastical  history,  June, 
1874,  to  'April,  1883;  Jonathan  Edwards,  systematic  theology,2  Sep- 

1  Minutes  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  for  1896,  p.  44. 

2  The  name  was  adopted  at  this  time  instead  of  the  former  title  of  didactic  and 
polemic  theology. 


SOUTHERN    BAPTIST    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY.  279 

tember,  1877,  to  May,  1880;  Ormond  Beatty,  church  history,  Septem- 
ber, 1886,  to  May,  1890;  Claude  B.  H.  Martin,  systematic  theology, 
September,  1886  to  date;  John  L.  McKee,  homiletics  and  pastoral 
theology,  September,  1886,  to  May,  1891;  John  W.  Redd,  Biblical 
Greek  and  New  Testament  history,  September,  1887,  to  May,  1890; 
Clarence  K.  Crawford,  tutor  in  Hebrew,  September,  1887,  to  May, 
1891,  professor  of  Old  Testament  languages  and  Biblical  antiquities, 
May,  1891  to  date;  William  C.  Young,  pastoral  theology,  September, 
1888,  to  Majr,  1891,  homiletics  and  pastoral  theology,  May,  1891,  to  Sep- 
tember, 1896;  John  M,  Worrall,  Biblical  and  ecclesiastical  history  and 
church  government,  September,  1890  to  date;  William  H.  Johnson, 
New  Testament  literature  and  exegesis,  September,  1897  to  date;  John 
C.  Ely,  homiletics,  September,  1897  to  date. 

The  course  of  instruction  in  the  seminary  embraces  all  the  depart- 
ments of  a  modern  theological  education,  and  is  strictly  professional 
in  character,  being  directed  to  the  one  end  of  properly  preparing 
students  for  the  ministry.  The  methods  of  instruction,  besides  regu- 
lar class-room  exercises,  embrace  various  practical  exercises  and  con- 
ferences in  different  departments.  Only  those  are  admitted  to  the 
courses  that  have  received  a  regular  college  education,  or  at  least  so 
much  thereof  as  will  enable  them  to  pursue  with  profit  the  courses 
taken.  The  work  of  the  institution  is  so  coordinated  with  that  of 
Centre  College  as  to  offer  excellent  advantages  to  those  who  wish  to 
take  special  courses  in  the  latter,  to  all  of  which  the  admission  is 
gratuitous. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Collins 's  History  of  Kentucky. 

The  Presbyterian  Almanac  for  1860,  edited  by  J.  M.  Wilson,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Plan  of  the  Danville  Theological  Seminary,  Louisville,  1854. 

Plan  of  the  Danville  Theological  Seminary,  Louisville,  1873. 

An  address  to  the  Alumni  Association  of  Centre  College,  by  James  Barbour, 
Cincinnati,  1874. 

The  Presbyterian  Encyclopedia,  edited  by  Alfred  Nevin,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  and  other 
eminent  ministers  of  the  church,  Philadelphia,  1884. 

Minutes  of  the  Ninety- Fifth  Annual  Session  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  Mount 
Sterling,  1896. 

Considerable  information  was  also  obtained  from  catalogues,  especially  those  of 
1853-54,  1874-75,  and  1886-87. 

SOUTHERN   BAPTIST   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY,    LOUISVILLE. 

From  the  very  organization  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  in 
1845,  persistent  efforts  were  put  forth  by  some  of  the  prominent  mem- 
bers of  the  denomination  to  establish  a  general  theological  seminary 
which  should  furnish  a  professional  education  to  the  ministry  of  the 
church  of  wider  scope  and  better  adapted  to  the  special  needs  of 
individuals  than  could  be  offered  in  the  theological  departments  of 
the  various  church  colleges,  whose  endowments  were  meager  and 


280  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

whose  instruction  was  necessarily  limited  in  character.  Even  at  the 
first  meeting  of  the  convention,  held  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  in  May,  1845, 
a  special  conference  looking  toward  this  object  was  held  by  those 
particularly  interested,  and  similar  discussions  were  held  from  time 
to  time  at  various  other  denominational  gatherings.  Among  those 
particularly  active  in  urging  on  the  enterprise  at  the  different  church 
meetings  in  which  they  took  part  may  be  mentioned:  R.  C.  B.  Howell; 
John  L.  Waller;  Basil  Manly,  sr. ;  William  B.  Johnson;  J.  L.  Bur- 
rows; J.  B.  Jeter;  J.  B.  Taylor;  A.  M.  Poindexter;  G.  W.  Samson; 
J.  W.  M.  Williams;  J.  O.  B.  Dargan;  R.  Furman;  Basil  Manly,  jr.; 
J.  H.  De  Votie;  J.  M.  Pendleton;  and  S.  L.  Helm. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  general  convention  in  Charleston,  S.  C.,  in 
1849,  a  large  committee,  with  A.  M.  Poindexter  as  chairman,  was,  after 
deliberation,  appointed  with  the  object  of  getting  the  church  colleges 
to  favor  and  assist  the  general  seminary  idea,  but  these  were  found 
not  to  be  prepared  to  unite  in  the  enterprise  at  that  time  and  so  its 
friends  were  for  a  time  discouraged,  and  by  mutual  consent  agitation 
in  its  behalf  was  temporarily  discontinued.  At  length,  in  June,  1854, 
the  General  Association  of  Virginia,  meeting  in  Richmond,  proposed 
a  convention  of  the  friends  of  theological  education,  to  be  held  at 
Montgomery,  Ala.,  on  May  11,  1853,  in  conjunction  with  the  general 
convention  of  the  church.  The  proposition  was  favorably  received 
and  the  Montgomery  convention  was  a  decided  success,  being  espe- 
cially noteworthy  from  the  fact  that  James  P.  Boyce  and  John  A. 
Broadus,  men  afterwards  so  potent  in  shaping  the  destinies  of  the 
proposed  seminary,  here  became  prominently  identified  with  the 
movement  for  its  establishment. 

At  Montgomery  it  was  decided  to  call  another  educational  conven- 
tion to  meet  at  Augusta,  Ga.,  in  May,  1856,  to  discuss  the  question  in 
all  its  bearings.  Numerous  delegates  were  present  at  Augusta,  but 
the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  accomplishing  the  proposed  object 
seemed  so  great  that  nothing  further  was  done  than  to  solicit  bids  for 
the  location  of  the  seminary,  should  it  be  established,  after  which 
the  whole  matter  was  referred  to  another  convention,  to  assemble  in 
Louisville,  Ky.,  in  May,  1857.  At  this  time  the  Baptists  of  South 
Carolina,  who,  under  Dr.  Boyce's  leadership,  had  then  become  thor- 
oughly committed  to  the  plan  of  having  a  general  seminary  rather  than 
scattered  colleges  and  theological  schools,  proposed  to  give  $100,000 
for  its  establishment  at  Greenville,  in  their  State,  provided  a  like 
amount  should  be  raised  by  the  church  in  the  other  Southern  States. 
This  proposition  was,  after  a  full  discussion,  accepted  by  the  Louis- 
ville convention  and  steps  taken  to  raise  the  needed  funds  and  open 
the  institution  in  the  autumn  of  the  following  year.  A  committee 
was  appointed  to  draw  up  a  plan  for  its  organization,  which  was  to  be 
effected  by  a  fourth  educational  convention  to  meet  in  Greenville  in 
May,  1858.  Dr.  Boyce  reported  to  the  Greenville  convention  that  he 


SffiBI 


i  j- 


, 


SOUTHERN    BAPTIST    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY.  281 

had  raised  in  cash  and  good  pledges  the  whole  of  the  amount  prom- 
ised by  South  Carolina,  and  that  body,  after  adopting  a  plan  for  the 
seminary,  elected  its  first  corps  of  professors  and  arranged  to  inaugu- 
rate the  institution  on  October  1,  following. 

The  plan  to  be  used  for  the  seminary  had  already  been  outlined  in 
an  inaugural  address  delivered  by  Dr.  Boyce  in  June,  1856,  while  a 
professor  in  the  theological  department  of  Furman  University.  The 
instruction  given  was  to  be  based  on  a  certain  declaration  of  funda- 
mental doctrine  to  which  all  professors  were  to  be  required  to  sub- 
scribe and  conform  their  teaching,  but  which  was  not  to  be  imposed 
by  the  seminary  in  any  authoritative  way  upon  its  students.  While 
instruction  was  to  be  offered  of  the  widest  scope  and  highest  grade, 
such  as  should  suit  those  prepared  for  advanced  work  in  the  original 
languages  of  the  Scriptures,  others  of  less  scholarly  acquirements 
were  to  be  welcomed  for  shorter  or  longer  times  to  courses  designed 
to  better  prepare  them  for  the  successful  performance  of  the  active 
work  of  the  ministry.  To  this  end  the  usual  range  of  studies  was 
divided  into  a  number  of  "schools,"  which  might  be  taken  by  stu- 
dents according  to  their  ability  and  desires,  and  different  combina- 
tions of  which,  when  properly  completed,  would  lead  to  various 
degrees  in  the  different  departments.  This  original  plan  has  since 
been  substantially  maintained,  its  development  leading  naturally  to 
the  present  English,  eclectic,  and  full  graduate  courses.  The  control 
of  the  seminary  was  placed  by  the  Greenville  convention  in  the  hands 
of  the  Church  Board  of  Education  Society,  where  it  remained  until 
1866,  when  it  was  by  general  consent  placed  under  the  management 
of  the  general  convention  of  the  church.1 

The  first  faculty  selected  for  the  institution  was  composed  of  Rev. 
James  P.  Boyce,  D.  D. ;  Rev.  John  A.  Broadus,  D.  D. ;  Rev.  Basil 
Manly,  jr.,  D.  D. ;  and  Rev.  E.  T.  Winkler,  D.  D. ;  but  two  of  these, 
Drs.  Broadus  and  Winkler,  declined  their  appointments  at  first,  and 
so  the  seminary  was  not  opened  as  expected  in  1858.  Dr.  Broadus, 
however,  was  led  later  to  reconsider  his  declination,  and  Dr.  William 
Williams  having  been  elected  in  the  place  of  Dr.  Winkler,  the  semi- 
nary was  opened  on  the  first  Monday  in  October,  1859,  with  a  faculty 
of  four  professors,  of  which  Dr.  Boyce  was  chairman. 

The  aim  of  the  institution  has  always  been  to  retain  an  able  faculty 
rather  than  have  expensive  buildings,  when  it  could  not  afford  both, 
so  its  original  equipment  in  the  way  of  buildings,  and  indeed  all  it 
had  in  the  way  of  general  accommodations  while  in  Greenville  was 

1  This  body  elects  the  board  of  trustees,  which  is  composed  of  one  member  from 
each  State  contributing  as  much  as  $5,000  to  the  seminary  funds,  and  one  mem- 
ber for  each  additional  $5,000  contributed  up  to  eleven  members.  There  are  at 
present  5  trustees  from  Maryland,  5  from  Virginia,  11  from  Georgia,  4  from 
North  Carolina,  3  from  Alabama.  2  from  Texas,  11  from  Kentucky,  11  from 
South  Carolina,  3  from  Missouri.  2  from  Mississippi,  and  2  from  Tennessee. 


282  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

a  leased  church,  previously  unoccupied,  in  which  by  inexpensive  par- 
titions two  lecture  rooms  and  a  library  room  were  provided.  Its  stu- 
dents at  first  boarded  in  private  families.  Its  library  was  from  the 
beginning  an  excellent  one,  as  the  large  and  well-selected  collection 
of  the  theological  department  of  Furman  University  had  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  seminary. 

There  were  26  students,  representing  six  States,  in  attendance  upon 
its  first  session,  and  36  from  a  wider  territory  the  second  session. 
This  is  claimed1  to  be  a  larger  beginning  than  any  other  theological 
seminary  in  America  had  hitherto  had  in  the  same  time.  By  the  end  of 
the  second  year  the  second  $100,000  of  the  endowment,  pledged  by  the 
States  outside  of  South  Carolina,  had  been  secured  in  money  and  good 
subscriptions,  and  the  outlook  for  the  institution  was  exceedingly 
bright.  When  the  civil  war  came  on  the  attendance  was  reduced  to 
20  the  third  year,  several  of  the  students  having  joined  the  army 
before  the  end  of  that  session,  so  the  seminary  was  suspended  from 
June,  1862,  to  the  autumn  of  1865,  the  professors  meanwhile  main- 
taining their  nominal  connection  with  the  institution  while  engaged 
in  various  other  church  enterprises. 

The  prospects  of  the  seminary  in  1865  were  indeed  gloomy,  as  prac- 
tically all  its  paid-in  endowment  had  been  lost  by  the  war  and  such 
pledges  to  its  funds  as  remained  unpaid  were  now  practically  worth- 
less on  account  of  the  poverty  of  those  who  had  given  them.  The 
prospects  for  future  contributions,  even  for  current  support,  were 
also  very  poor  amid  the  general  desolation  wrought  by  the  war  and 
the  social  changes  produced  by  it.  But  under  the  leadership  of 
Dr.  Boyce,  who  himself  contributed  $1,000  toward  the  expenses  of  its 
first  session,  the  faculty  and  friends  of  the  institution  persevered, 
and  it  was  reopened  on  October  2,  1865,  with  a  full  faculty,  and, 
although  only  7  students  were  in  attendance  during  the  year,  a  regu- 
lar course  in  all  departments  was  maintained  as  far  as  desired  by  any 
of  the  students.  Dr.  Boyce  was  able  from  year  to  year,  by  diligent 
and  persistent  efforts  through  correspondence  and  personal  applica- 
tion, to  meet  the  needs  of  the  institution,  always  drawing  freely  upon 
his  own  private  means  in  order  to  do  so,  and  thus  it  managed  to  live, 
and  the  number  of  its  students  gradually  increased,  numbering  as 
many  as  46  in  1868-69  and  61  in  1869-70,  its  faculty  having  been 
strengthened  at  the  beginning  of  this  last  year  by  the  addition  of 
Rev.  C.  H.  Toy,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  as  prof esssor  of  Old  Testament  inter- 
pretation. No  permanent  endowment  was,  however,  being  secured, 
and  so  even  the  permanency  of  the  seminary  was  endangered,  pre- 
cariously maintained  as  it  was  by  annual  contributions,  and  future 
growth  and  expansion  to  any  extent  seemed,  under  the  conditions, 
entirely  impossible. 

1  First  Thirty  Years,  p.  11. 


SOUTHERN    BAPTIST    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY.  283 

As  a  sufficient  endowment,  which  experience  had  shown  must  be 
largely  local,  could  not  be  hoped  for  from  the  denomination  in  South 
Carolina  on  account  of  the  great  losses  they  had  suffered  by  the  war 
and  the  pressing  need  of  other  church  enterprises  located  in  their 
midst,  the  question  of  the  location  of  the  institution  was  reopened  at 
the  general  convention  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  in  1871,  when  the  Baptists 
of  Kentucky  proposed  that,  if  it  should  be  removed  to  Louisville, 
they  would  pledge  $300,000  toward  its  endowment,  provided  the  other 
Southern  States  would  contribute  $200,000  more.  This  proposition 
was  accepted  by  the  denomination  in  August,  1872,  and  was  formally 
ratified  by  the  general  convention  at  Mobile,  Ala.,  on  May  10,  1873. 

The  removal  was  not  carried  out  until  1877,  the  interval  being  spent 
in  raising  the  proposed  endowment,  to  which  work  Dr.  Boyce  devoted 
himself,  having  removed  to  Louisville  in  1872  for  that  purpose.  Nearly 
the  whole  of  this  endowment  had  been  secured  in  real  estate,  stocks, 
and  individual  pledges  when  the  financial  panic  of  1873  made  much 
of  this  unavailable,  and  it  seemed  in  1874  that  the  proposed  plan 
would  after  all  fail,  but  it  was  saved  by  the  prompt  subscription  by 
some  of  its  friends  of  $90,000,  to  be  paid  in  five  annual  installments. 
Meanwhile  the  sessions  of  the  seminary  had  continued  at  Greenville 
and  had  had  an  average  attendance  of  something  over  60  students, 
there  being  68  present  in  1 876-77.  Dr.  Broadus  had  become  acting 
chairman  of  its  faculty  upon  Dr.  Boyce's  removal  to  Louisville,  at 
which  time  Rev.  W.  H.  Whitsitt,  D.  D.,  its  present  president,  became 
its  professor  of  ecclesiastical  history  and  Biblical  introduction,  Dr. 
Williams  being  transferred  to  Dr.  Boyce's  chair  of  systematic  theology. 
Dr.  Manly  had  resigned  his  chair  in  1871  to  accept  the  presidency  of 
Georgetown  College,  Ky.,  and  from  1875  to  1877  Rev.  A.  J.  A.  Jaeger 
was  an  assistant  professor  in  the  seminary.  On  March  20,  1877,  the 
institution  was  deprived  by  death  of  the  services  of  Dr.  Williams,  who 
is  described  as  "a  warm  friend,  a  fervid  and  vigorous  preacher,  a 
teacher  of  singular  clearness  and  attractiveness,  a  Christian  of  deep 
and  simple  piety."1 

The  seminary  was  first  opened  in  Louisville  on  September  1,  1877, 
when  its  faculty  was  constituted  as  follows:  Rev.  James  P.  Boyce. 
D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  professor  of  ecclesiastical  history,  church  government, 
and  pastoral  duties;  Rev.  John  A.  Broadus,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  professor 
of  New  Testament  interpretation  and  the  preparation  and  delivery  of 
sermons;  Rev.  Crawford  H.  Toy,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  professor  of  Old  Tes- 
tament interpretation;  Rev.  William  H.  Whitsitt,  D.  D.,  professor  of 
Biblical  introduction  and  polemic  theology. 

In  1879  Professor  Toy  resigned  to  accept  the  chair  of  Semitic  lan- 
guages in  Harvard  University  and  Dr.  Manly  returned  to  his  old  chair 
in  the  seminary,  which  he  retained  until  his  death.  Eightj'-nine  stu- 
dents were  in  attendance  upon  the  first  session  of  the  institution  at 

1  First  Thirty  Years,  p.  36. 


284  HISTORY    OF   HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN    KENTUCKY. 

its  new  location,  and  an  average  of  more  than  90  were  present  during 
the  next  three  years.  Its  numbers  soon  increased  so  as  to  make  it 
the  largest  Baptist  theological  seminary  in  existence,  and  it  became 
necessary  to  enlarge  its  faculty,  as  was  done  in  1881,  by  the  addition 
of  George  W.  Riggan,  D.  D.,  who  at  that  time  was  made  an  instructor 
of  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  homiletics.  He  became  an  assistant  professor 
in  1883.  Meanwhile  the  institution  had  again  experienced  financial 
difficulties,  from  which  it  was  again  happily  relieved.  In  the  latter 
part  of  1879,  little  of  the  prospective  endowment  having  been  paid 
in,  the  seminary  was  about  to  become  embarrassed  financially,  when, 
on  February  11,  1880,  it  received  from  Governor  Joseph  E.  Brown,  of 
Georgia,  the  unexpected  gift  of  $50, 000 1  to  endow  a  professorship. 
This  movement  to  increase  the  endowment  was  joined  in  by  various 
friends  of  the  institution  in  Louisville,  New  York  City,  and  elsewhere 
to  such  an  extent  that  its  permanency  was  soon  assured. 

The  same  policy  in  regard  to  buildings  was  pursued  by  the  seminary 
in  Louisville  as  in  Greenville.  Until  its  building  funds  were  supplied 
it  occupied  temporary  quarters  for  a  time  in  the  public  library  build- 
ing on  Fourth  near  Walnut  street,  which  it  used  for  lecture  rooms 
and  library  purposes,  while  the  Waverly  Hotel,  on  Walnut  street  near 
Sixth,  was  rented  as  a  dormitory  for  students.  In  1885  eligible  and  spa- 
cious grounds  on  Broadway  between  Fourth  and  Fifth  streets  were 
purchased  by  Louisville  friends  as  a  proposed  site  for  the  earty  con- 
struction of  suitable  buildings,  and  in  the  following  year  very  liberal 
contributions  were  made  by  Mr.  John  D.  Rockefeller  and  other  gener- 
ous friends  in  New  York  City  and  vicinity  for  the  erection  of  the 
first  seminary  building.  This  was  completed  in  1887,  at  a  cost  of 
$80,000,  an  amount  about  equal  to  the  cost  of  the  seminary  grounds, 
and  was  called,  in  honor  of  the  home  of  its  donors,  New  York  Hall.  It 
is  a  fine  large  4-story  building,  located  on  Fifth  street  near  Broadway, 
and  was  intended  primarily  as  a  dormitory  for  students.  It  was  also  for 
a  time  furnished  with  lecture-room  and  library  accommodations.  In 
1890  a  separate  and  beautiful  library  building  was  erected  at  a  cost 
of  $50,000.  It  was  given  by  Mrs.  J.  Lawrence  Smith,  of  Louisville, 
as  a  memorial  of  four  of  her  deceased  nephews  and  nieces.  In  1893 
Norton  Hall,  the  imposing  structure  at  present  used  by  the  seminary 
for  administrative  and  lecture-room  purposes,  was  built  by  the  Nor- 
ton family,  of  Louisville,  at  a  cost  of  $60,000.  In  1897  the  seminary 
was  supplied  with  a  handsome  new  gymnasium  through  the  liberality 
of  Hon.  Joshua  Levering,  of  Baltimore,  Md.,  by  whom  it  was  built 
and  equipped  with  modern  apparatus  at  a  cost  of  $10,000,  thus  com- 
pleting a  material  equipment  for  the  institution  surpassed  by  few,  if 
any,  of  its  kind  in  the  country. 

'This  was  set  apart  to  the  chair  of  systematic  theology,  which  has  since  been 
called  the  Joseph  Emerson  Brown  chair. 


SOUTHERN    BAPTIST   THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY.  285 

Considerable  additions  to  its  supporting  endowment  have  also  been 
made  in  recent  years,  among  these 1  being  the  gift  in  1893  of  $70,000  by 
Mrs.  Minnie  Caldwell  (nee  Norton).  The  value  of  the  entire  semi- 
nary property  and  funds  was  estimated  in  1896  at  about  $870,000,  and 
is  probably  now  approximately  $900,000.  The  direct  means  of  in- 
struction have  in  like  manner  been  kept  up  to  modern  demands.  The 
library,  which  already  had  a  good  foundation,  has  been  added  to  from 
time  to  time  by  the  purchase  of  standard  works,  and  has  received 
valuable  donations  and  bequests  from  the  library  of  Columbian  Uni- 
versity, Washington,  D.  C. ;  from  Prof.  W.  E.  Bailey,  of  South  Caro- 
lina; Rev.  Dr.  B.  Manly,  sr. ;  Rev.  Franklin  Wilson;  Rev.  T.  W. 
Tobey,  and  others,  besides  a  large  donation  from  Dr.  Boyce  and  one 
from  the  library  of  Dr.  Basil  Manly,  jr. ;  so  that  it  now  numbers  over 
20,000  volumes. 

The  number  of  students  attending  the  seminary  in  recent  years  has, 
however,  kept  pace  somewhat  with  its  enlarged  accommodations  and 
improved  facilities.  In  1882-83  its  matriculation  was  120,  and  since 
then  there  has  been  an  almost  uniform  increase  until  the  high-water 
mark  was  reached  in  1895-96,  when  318  students  were  enrolled.  It 
is  believed  that  it  then  became  the  largest  theological  seminary  of  any 
denomination  in  the  whole  country.  In  1897-98,  301  students  were 
present,  who  represented  31  States  and  1  Territory  of  this  country  and 
three  other  countries ;  676  students  were  enrolled  altogether  in  Green- 
ville, and  3,621  have  been  enrolled  since  the  removal  to  Louisville, 
making  a  total  registration  up  to  1898,  inclusive,  of  4,297,  of  which 
about  1,800  names  are  counted  twice.  Of  the  Louisville  registration 
2,433  names  have  been  enrolled  since  1888 — a  fact  which  shows  the 
rapid  growth  of  the  institution  in  recent  years.  A  considerable  por- 
tion of  the  students  who  have  attended  the  seminary  have  graduated 
in  one  of  its  courses.  Its  present  faculty  is  composed  largely  of  its 
own  graduates. 

Its  increase  in  matriculation  in  recent  years  has  been  so  nearly  com- 
mensurate with  the  enlargement  of  its  funds  that,  although  the  latter 
has  been  quite  large,  the  income  derived  from  it  has  only  been  lately 
somewhat  equal  to  the  additional  demands  made  upon  it,  thus  making 
the  income  of  the  institution  meet  its  expenses.  Indeed,  for  one  pur- 
pose— to  secure  the  funds  needed  to  assist  deserving  students  who  are 
unable  to  fully  meet  their  own  expenses — it  has  been  found  necessary 
that  annual  contributions  should  still  be  solicited ;  at  least  the  prin- 
cipal part  of  the  means  the  seminary  now  has  for  this  special  object 
consists  of  the  income  derived  from  $15,000  bequeathed  by  D.  A. 
Chenault  in  July,  1885,  and  $10,000  bequeathed  by  W.  F.  Norton  in 
October,  1886. 

A  number  of  changes  have  taken  place  in  the  seminary  faculty  in 
recent  years.  Assistant  Professor  Riggan  died  on  April  18, 1885,  and 

'A  lectureship  foundation  of  $5,000  was  also  given  in  1894  by  Rev.  William  D. 
Gay,  of  Montgomery,  Ala. 


286  HISTORY    OP    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

was  succeeded  in  the  latter  part  of  that  year  by  J.  R.  Sampey,  D.  D., 
at  first  as  instructor,  but  after  two  years  as  assistant  professor.  Rev. 
F.  H.  Kerfoot,  D.  D.,  was  elected  co-professor  of  systematic  theology 
in  1887,  and  full  professor  of  systematic  theolog3T,  pastoral  duties,  and 
church  government  in  1.889.  A.  T.  Robertson,  A.  M.,  was  made  an 
instructor  of  Greek  and  homiletics  in  1888  and  an  assistant  professor 
in  1890. 

The  office  of  president  of  the  seminary  was  created  in  May,  1887. 
It  was  very  appropriate  that  Dr.  Boyce,  who  had  so  long  been  the 
chairman  of  its  faculty,  should  be  the  first  incumbent  of  the  new 
office,  the  duties  of  which  he  was,  however,  not  long  to  discharge,  as 
he  was  removed  by  death  on  December  28,  1888.  He  had  been  con- 
nected with  the  institution  for  more  than  thirty  years,  counting  from 
the  incipiency  of  the  movement  for  its  establishment,  and  had  devoted 
to  its  interests  untiring  exertions  and  made  great  sacrifices  in  its 
behalf.  He  had  graduated  at  Brown  University  in  1847,  when  just 
over  20  years  of  age.  After  having  engaged  in  religious  journalism 
for  something  over  a  year,  he  studied  theology  at  Princeton,  N.  J., 
for  two  years,  and  then  entered  the  work  of  the  pastorate  until  1855, 
when  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  chair  of  theology  in  Furman  University, 
at  Greenville,  S.  C.  While  holding  this  professorship  he  became 
prominently  identified  with  those  laboring  to  found  a  general  seminary 
for  the  church, -his  efforts  in  behalf  of  which,  both  before  and  after  its 
establishment,  we  have  already  in  a  general  way  largely  recounted.  He 
has  been  called  "a  sturdy,  honest,  Godly  man,  an  elevated  and  genial 
character,  a  safe  and  wise  counselor,"1  and  his  work  in  behalf  of  the 
seminary  has  been  characterized  as  follows :  Dr.  Boyce  was  chairman 
of  the  faculty,  treasurer  of  the  board,  general  financial  agent,  and  has 
been  the  life  power  of  the  institution  from  its  inception  until  the 
present  time.2 

Upon  Dr.  Boyce's  death  Dr.  Broad  us  became  chairman  of  the 
faculty,  a  position  he  had  already  successfully  held  for  five  years  at 
Greenville.  In  May,  1889,  he  was  regularly  elected  president  of  the 
seminary,  a  position  he  continued  to  occupy  with  honor  to  himself 
and  the  institution  until  his  death  on  March  16,  1895.  He  had  taken 
his  A.  M.  at  the  University  of  Virginia  in  1851 ;  had  been  an  assistant 
professor  in  that  institution  from  1851  to  1853,  and  had  been  engaged 
in  pastoral  work  until  he  became  connected  with  the  seminary  faculty 
in  1859.  His  labors  for  that  institution  could  only  be  placed  second 
to  those  of  Dr.  Boyce,  if  to  those  of  anyone. 

Dr.  Manly,  the  only  remaining  member  of  the  original  faculty,  who, 
as  we  have  seen,  after  eight  years'  efficient  service  as  the  president  of 

1  First  Thirty  Years,  p.  31. 

2Cathcart's  Encyclopedia,  p.  1087.  Dr.  Boyce  is  the  author  of  a  text-book  on 
theology  and  also  of  a  number  of  addresses.  He  also  wrote  extensively  for  religi- 
ous newspapers  and  reviews. 


SOUTHERN   BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY— LIBRARY  BUILDING. 
Southwest  corner  Fifth  and  Broadway. 


SOUTHERN   BAPTIST   THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY.  287 

Georgetown  College,  had  returned  to  the  seminary  in  1879,  had  died 
in  office  about  three  years  before  Dr.  Broadus,  on  January  31,  1892. 
He  was  a  tireless  worker  and  fine  teacher.  It  is  through  his  efforts, 
combined  with  those  of  Dr.  Broadus,  that  the  funds  of  the  seminary 
to  aid  needy  students  were  for  many  years  raised. 

The  course  of  instruction,  while,  as  has  been  said,  in  the  main  fol- 
lowing the  original  plan,  has  lately  been  considerably  enlarged.  A 
chair  of  ecclesiology  was  added  to  the  regular  course  in  1896,  as  has 
also  been  a  lecture  course  on  the  history  of  missions.  The  school  of 
Latin  theology  has  been  replaced  by  a  school  of  special  theology 
taught  in  English,  and  many  special  courses  for  graduate  students 
have  also  been  established.  The  regular  course  of  instruction  is 
divided  into  the  nine  schools  of  biblical  introduction,  Old  Testament 
interpretation,  New  Testament  interpretation,  systematic  theology, 
polemic  theology,  homiletics  and  elocution,  church  history,  ecclesi- 
ology, and  pastoral  duties.  Each  of  these  schools  is  entirely  inde- 
pendent of  the  others,  and  is,  with  the  exception  of  Hebrew  and 
Greek,  completed  in  one  year.  Combinations  of  the  different  schools 
lead  to  the  degrees  of  English  graduate,  eclectic  graduate,  and  full 
graduate.  It  requires  three  years  for  a  student  with  a  degree  from  a 
good  college  to  complete  the  full  course.  A  graduate  course  leading 
to  the  degree  of  doctor  in  theology  is  open  to  full  graduates. 

We  have  already  mentioned  the  addition  to  the  seminary  faculty  of 
Dr.  Kerfoot  and  Professor  Robertson,  whose  elections  were  due  partly 
to  the  illness  and  subsequent  death  of  Dr.  Boyce  and  partly  to  furnish 
additional  teaching  facilities  to  the  institution.  Other  changes  have 
since  been  made,  owing  to  Dr.  Broadus's  death  and  the  enlarged 
matriculation.  In  May,  1893,  E.  C.  Dargan,  D.  D.,  became  co-pro- 
fessor of  homiletics,  church  government,  and  Latin  theology;  in  May, 
1894,  W.  J.  McGlothlin,  A.  M.,  instructor  of  Old  Testament  interpre- 
tation; in  October,  1895,  H.  H.  Harris,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  professor  of 
Biblical  introduction  and  polemical  theology;  arid  in  May,  1896,  W.  O. 
Carver,  instructor  in  New  Testament  interpretation  and  homiletics. 
Professor  Harris  died  in  office  on  February  4,  1897. 

In  May,  1895,  soon  after  Dr.  Broadus's  death,  Dr.  Whitsitt  was 
elected  as  his  successor  in  the  presidency  of  the  seminary.  Dr.  Whit- 
sitt graduated  at  Union  University,  Tennessee,  in  1861,  and  later 
studied  one  year  in  the  University  of  Virginia.  He  then  spent  two 
years  in  the  seminary  at  Greenville,  after  which  he  studied  in  Ger- 
many for  two  years,  and  then,  after  a  short  pastorate,  became,  as  we 
have  seen,  a  professor  in  the  seminary  in  1872.  Under  his  adminis- 
tration the  former  prosperity  of  the  institution  has  continued,  and  he 
has  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  it  become  the  largest  seminary  in 
his  church.1  On  July  14,  1898,  he  offered  his  resignation  as  president 


1  Dr.  Whitsitt  also  has  quite  a  reputation  as  a  writer  as  well  as  teacher  and 
administrative  officer. 


288  HISTORY   OP    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN    KENTUCKY. 

to  the  board  of  trustees.     No  definite  arrangements  have  yet  been 
made  in  regard  to  his  successor. 

The  present  facult}7  of  the  institution,  with  the  changes  in  their  chairs 
which  have  recently  taken  place,  are  as  follows:  William  H.  Whitsitt, 
D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  president  and  professor  of  ecclesiastical  history  and 
polemic  theology;  Franklin  H.  Kerfoot,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  professor  of 
pastoral  duties  and  Joseph  Emerson  Brown  professor  of  systematic 
theology;  John  R.  Sampey,  D.  D.,  professor  of  interpretation  of  the 
Old  Testament;  Archibald  T.  Robertson,  D.  D.,  professor  of  inter- 
pretation of  the  New  Testament;  Edwin  C.  Dargan,  D.  D.,  professor 
of  homiletics  and  ecclesiology;  William  J.  McGlothlin,  A.  M.,  D.  D., 
professor  of  Biblical  introduction  and  assistant  professor  of  Old  Testa- 
ment interpretation;  William  O.  Carver,  Th.  D.,  assistant  instructor 
in  New  Testament  interpretation  and  homiletics. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Collins's  and  Smith's  History;  Cathcart's  Baptist  Encyclopedia;  Williams's  Ohio 
Falls  Cities  and  their  Counties. 

The  First  Thirty  Years  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Theological  Seminary,  Balti- 
more, 1890  (contains  historical  sketch  by  J.  R.  Sampey,  D.  D. ). 

LOUISVILLE   MEDICAL    COLLEGE,    LOUISVILLE. 

The  foundation  of  Louisville  Medical  College  is  due  to  the  con- 
viction on  the  part  of  its  promoters  that  the  great  popularity  of  Louis- 
ville as  a  medical  center  justified  the  establishment  of  a  new,  modern, 
and  independent  college.  A  previous  attempt  in  the  same  line  had 
resulted  in  the  incorporation  of  the  Clay  School  of  Medicine,  the  place 
of  which  was  taken  by  Louisville  Medical  College,  its  charter  being 
repealed  at  the  same  time  that  of  the  latter  was  granted. 

Those  mainly  instrumental  in  the  founding  of  the  new  school  were 
the  men  who  composed  the  major  portion  of  its  initial  faculty,  viz: 
Drs.  Henry  M.  Bullitt,  Henry  Miller,  John  Goodman,  J.  M.  Holloway, 
J.  A.  Ireland,  John  A.  Ouchterlony,  and  E.  S.  Gaillard,  whose  aim  was 
to  establish  an  institution  which  should  be  first-class  in  all  its  appoint- 
ments and  should  have  a  first-class  teaching  force. 

An  organization  of  the  faculty  had  taken  place  shortty  before  the 
application  for  a  charter,  which  was  obtained  from  the  State  legisla- 
ture by  an  act  approved  January  26,  1869.  This  charter  places  the 
residuary  control  of  the  school  in  the  hands  of  8  self -perpetuating 
trustees,  who  have  a  general  supervision  over  its  property  and  faculty. 
Its  faculty  has  a  large  share  in  its  management,  as  they  elect  to  pro- 
fessorships which  only  have  to  be  confirmed  by  the  trustees,  and  are 
perpetual  unless  severed  by  resignation,  ejection,  or  death.  The 
trustees  are  authorized  to  hold  property  for  the  benefit  of  the  school 
to  the  amount  of  $100,000,  and  can  also,  by  an  amendment  to  the 
charter  secured  March  22, 1873,  which  has,  however,  never  been  taken 


LOUISVILLE    MEDICAL    COLLEGE.  289 

advantage  of,  bond  its  property,  if  necessary,  to  the  amount  of  $25,000. 
The  institution  is  empowered  to  confer  the  usual  degrees  in  medicine, 
dentistry,  and  collateral  sciences. 

The  original  faculty  was  composed  of  the  founders  mentioned  above, 
supplemented  by  two  other  physicians,1  most  of  whom  have  either 
previously  or  subsequently  been  connected  with  the  faculties  of  some 
of  the  other  medical  colleges  of  Louisville.  Dr.  Bullitt  was  made 
dean  of  the  new  school,  which  was  first  opened  in  September,  1869,  in 
the  old  law  building,  011  the  southwest  corner  of  Fifth  and  Green 
streets.  The  success  of  the  institution  was  pronounced  from  the  start 
and  its  classes  soon  grew  to  be  quite  large.  It  had  225  students  and 
51  graduates  in  1872-73,  and  up  to  that  year,  inclusive,  had  -had  350 
graduates.  By  1875-76  its  classes  were  the  largest  south  or  west  of 
Philadelphia.  Its  students  came  mainly  from  the  South  and  South- 
west, but  quite  a  number  of  them  came  from  north  of  the  Ohio  River, 

By  1877  its  classes  had  outgrown  their  first  quarters,  and  space  was 
secured  for  it  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  in  Odd  Fellows'  Hall,  on 
First  and  Jefferson  streets.  Enlarged  accommodations  were  soon 
again  demanded,  and  in  the  summer  of  1883  a  large  building  on  Third 
street  was  leased  and  fitted  up  for  the  institution.  As  the  years  went 
by  this  building  was  also  found  to  be  inadequate,  and  the  faculty 
determined  to  erect  one  which  would  properly  accommodate  their  ever- 
increasing  classes,  a  resolution  which  resulted  in  the  construction  of 
the  present  fine  building,  on  the  corner  of  First  and  Chestnut  streets, 
which  is  one  of  the  handsomest  arid  most  commodious  of  its  kind  ir, 
the  country  and  one  of  which  the  institution  has  a  right  to  be  proud 
It  is  pleasing  in  its  architecture  and  splendid  in  its  equipment,  con 
taining  "every  element  necessary  to  give  the  student  of  medicine  all 
the  facilities  which  the  ideas  of  the  present  day  deem  essential  to 
thorough  teaching."^ 

The  following  description,  taken  in  substance  from  a  recent 
announcement  of  the  school,  will  give  some  idea  of  its  accommoda- 
tions: It  is  184  feet  long  and  87  feet  wide  and  four  stories  in  height, 
with  a  basement  under  the  entire  structure.  The  first  floor  contains 
the  facultj7  rooms,  reception  room,  chemical  laboratoiy,  library,  and 
janitor's  rooms.  On  the  second  floor  will  be  found  the  museum,  mail 
amphitheater,  chemical  room,  clinical  room,  and  professors'  room. 
The  amphitheater  is  55  by  75  feet  and  extends  up  through  two  stories. 
It  will  comfortably  seat  600  students  and  is  perfect  in  its  acoustic 
properties.  On  the  third  floor  are  rooms  for  demonstrating  histology, 
microscopy,  and  bacteriology.  The  fourth  floor  contains  the  dissect- 
ing room,  55  by  75  feet,  floored  with  tiling  and  furnished  with  hard- 
wood tables  and  marble  lavatories.  It  is  perfectly  ventilated  and 


'These  physicians  were  Drs.  Birch  and  Logan,  whose  first  names  the  writer  has 
been  unable  to  ascertain. 
2  Announcement  of  189'3-SKJ,  p.  ."). 
2127— No.  25 19" 


290  HISTORY    OP    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

nightly  flushed  with  water,  so  as  to  be  well-nigh  odorless.  The  dis- 
pensary building  is  located  at  the  north  end  of  the  main  building  and 
is  connected  with  it  by  a  corridor.  It  is  two  stories  high  and  contains 
a  spacious  clinical  amphitheater,  waiting  rooms,  etherizing  room,  drug 
room,  special  operating  room,  recoverjr  room,  and  reading  room  for 
students.  The  new  building  was  occupied  by  the  college  in  Septem- 
ber, 1893,  the  session  of  1892-93  having  been  spent  in  the  building  of 
the  Kentucky  School  of  Medicine  on  Sixth  street. 

The  institution  had  previously  been  progressive  in  its  methods  of 
instruction  and  in  its  equipment.  While  located  on  Third  street,  just 
prior  to  1889,  it  had  erected  a  dispensary  and  had  added  a  gymnasium 
to  its  outfit.  It  was  also  one  of  the  first,  if  not  the  first,  of  the  med- 
ical colleges  in  the  South  to  use  the  method  of  having  each  dissection 
practically  demonstrated  before  the  class  prior  to  its  being  under- 
taken by  the  students,  as  it  was  also  to  add  an  infirmary  annex,  mak- 
ing it  possible  to  perform  major  operations  under  perfect  asepsis  in 
the  presence  of  the  entire  class.  The  equipment  of  the  institution 
includes,  besides  a  large,  regular  chemical  laboratory,  special  labora- 
tories in  histology,  in  pathology,  and  bacteriology,  and  in  operative 
surgery. 

Its  original  course  required  for  graduation  had  been  the  one  usually 
in  vogue  at  the  time  of  its  establishment — two  years  of  lectures,  with 
one  year's  previous  office  study.  This  was  maintained  up  to  the  ses- 
sion of  1892-93,  when  the  college  entered  the  Southern  Association  of 
Medical  Colleges,  and  with  the  opening  of  the  next  session  in  1893 
adopted,  in  accordance  with  the  requirements  of  that  organization,  a 
three  years'  course  of  study  for  all  students  then  entering  for  a  new 
course.  In  1895  it  joined  the  Association  of  American  Medical  Col- 
leges, and  in  its  next  session  required  all  students  beginning  their  first 
course  of  medicine  to  take  a  four  years'  course  before  graduation. 
The  association's  preliminary  matriculation  requirements  are  also  en- 
forced. The  institution  has  thus  brought  its  graduation  requirements 
up  to  those  of  the  best  and  foremost  medical  colleges  of  the  country. 

The  method  of  instruction  is  one  in  which  lectures,  clinics,  recita- 
tions, quizzes,  and  practical  demonstrations  are  all  combined.  The 
following  are  the  departments  of  the  course  as  at  present  offered : 
Principles  and  practice  of  medicine,  anatomy,  practical  anatomy ,  physi- 
ology, materia  medica  and  therapeutics,  obstetrics,  gynaecology  and 
abdominal  surgery,  surgery,  clinical  surgery,  chemistry,  diseases  of 
the  eye,  ear,  nose,  and  throat,  diseases  of  the  nervous  system,  genito- 
urinary diseases,  diseases  of  children,  diseases  of  the  rectum,  physical 
diagnosis,  hygiene,  and  medical  jurisprudence. 

As  in  all  the  other  medical  colleges  of  the  country,  the  matricula- 
tion of  Louisville  Medical  College  has  been  somewhat  reduced  of  late, 
owing  to  the  advanced  standard  of  entrance  and  the  length  and  time 
necessary  for  graduation,  but  its  attendance  has  been  comparatively 


LOUISVILLE   MEDICAL  COLLEGE. 


LOUISVILLE    MEDICAL    COLLEGE.  291 

well  sustained.  Its  combined  classes  in  recent  years  nave  at  times 
numbered  more  than  300  students,  who  have  frequently  represented 
as  many  as  25  States  and  Territories  of  the  Union,  besides  several  for- 
eign countries.  It  is  estimated  that  about  7,000  students  altogether 
have  attended  the  school  since  its  foundation,  which  would  make  a 
yearly  average  of  about  240.  The  graduating  class  has  numbered  as 
many  as  191  (in  1893-94),  and  the  total  number  of  graduates,  up  to 
1898  inclusive,  is  1,974,  a  yearly  average  of  about  68.  The  graduates 
are  distributed  in  every  State  of  the  United  States,  especially  in  the 
South  and  West,  and  particularly  in  Texas,  Indiana,  Kentucky,  Illi- 
nois, and  Ohio.  Recently  a  larger  number  have  been  residents  of 
the  North,  Northwest,  and  East. 

Much  of  the  prosperity  of  the  college  has  been  due  to  its  efficient 
deans  who,  with  their  terms  of  office,  have  been  as  follows:  Dr.  Henry 
Bullitt,  1869-70;  Dr.  E.  S.  Gaillard,  1870-79;  Dr.  J.  A.  Ireland,  1879- 
1895;  Dr.  C.  W.  Kelly,  since  1895.  Dr.  Ireland  was  an  emeritus  pro- 
fessor in  the  institution  until  the  present  year,  and  was  the  last  of  its 
original  faculty  to  be  connected  with  it.  Its  present  faculty  is  com- 
posed mainly  of  comparatively  young  men  who  are,  however,  well  to 
the  front  in  their  profession. 

The  professors  and  their  chairs  are  as  follows:  C.  W.  Kelly,  M.  D., 
C.  M.,  professor  of  descriptive  and  surgical  anatomy  and  clinical 
medicine,  dean;  Geo.  M.  Warner,  M.  D.,  professor  of  materia  inedica, 
therapeutics,  and  diseases  of  children;  A.  Morgan  Cartledge,  M.  D., 
professor  of  gynecology  and  abdominal  surgery;  H.  B.  Ritter,  M.  D., 
professor  of  obstetrics  and  hygiene;  Wm.  Cheatham,  M.  D.,  profes- 
sor of  ophthalmology,  otology,  and  laryngology;  John  G.  Cecil,  B.  S., 
M.  D.,  professor  of  principles  and  practice  of  medicine,  clinical  medi- 
cine, and  neurology;  Wm.  C.  Dugan,  M.  D.,  professor  of  surgery  and 
clinical  surgeiy;  Fouchee  Warren  Samuel,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  professor 
of  principles  and  practice  of  surgery  and  operative  surgery;  Adolph  O. 
Pfingst,  M.  D.,  professor  of  physiology  and  histology;  Harris  Kelly, 
B.  A.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  chemistry  and  toxicology;  August  Schach- 
ner,  M.  D.,  associate  professor  of  anatomy,  demonstrator  of  anatomy. 

There  are  besides  14  lecturers,  directors,  and  instructors,  who  serve 
as  assistants  to  the  faculty  proper  in  the  various  departments. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

The  material  for  this  sketch  has  been  obtained  almost  entirely  through  corre- 
spondence with  Dr.  George  M.  Warner,  secretary  of  the  faculty,  and  from  cata- 
logues and  other  sources  of  general  information.  A  few  facts  have  been  secured 
from  Collins's  History;  Williams's  Ohio  Falls  Cities;  and  Louisville,  past  and 
present. 


292  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY.   . 

LOUISVILLE   COLLEGE    OF   PHARMACY,  LOUISVILLE. 

The  preliminary  meeting  looking  toward  the  organization  of  the 
Louisville  College  of  Pharmacy  was  held  in  the  office  of  J.  B.  Wilder 
&  Co.,  at  Sixth  and  Main  streets,  in  Louisville,  on  Juty  25,  1870,  when 
the  feasibility  of  establishing  such  an  institution,  "to  supply  a  want 
that  had  long  been  felt  in  the  Southwest," 1  was  fully  discussed.  This 
meeting  was  attended  by  leading  pharmacists  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  of 
Jeffersonville  and  New  Albany,  Ind. ,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned 
as  especially  active  in  furthering  the  proposed  enterprise  Dr.  C.  Lewis 
Diehl,  George  A.  Newman,  Thomas  E.  Jenkins,  Dr.  Emil  Scheffer, 
L.  D.  Kastenbine,  S.  F.  Dawes,  F.  C.  Miller,  R.  J.  Snyder,  Edward 
Wilder,  and  R.  A  Robinson. 

As  a  result  of  the  previous  discussion  a  corporation  known  as  The 
Louisville  College  of  Pharmacy  was  instituted  on  August  16,  1870,  its 
first  board  of  directors  being  composed  of  Thomas  E.  Jenkins,  B.  F. 
Scribner,  George  A.  Newman,  S.  F.  Dawes,  John  Colgan,  Louis  Eich- 
rodt,  Dr.  C.  Lewis  Diehl,  George  A.  Cary,  J.  A.  McAfee,  Dan  B. 
Grable,  Ferd.  J.  Pfingst,  and  Fred.  C.  Miller.  Of  this  board  Dr.  C. 
Lewis  Diehl  was  elected  president  and  F.  C.  Miller  and  Louis  Eich- 
rodt  secretaries.  Dr.  Emil  Scheffer  was  made  chairman  of  one  of 
the  important  committees.  Dr.  Scheffer  had  already  a  national  repu- 
tation as  a  pharmacist,  as  had  also  Dr.  Diehl,  the  latter  being  one  of 
the  editors  of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  the  standard  for  compounding  drugs 
in  the  United  States. 

A  charter  for  the  institution  was  later  secured  from  the  legislature 
of  the  State.  It  bears  the  date  of  February  10,  1873,  and  by  its  terms 
the  college  is  empowered  to  confer  the  degree  of  graduate  in  phar- 
macy, while  its  management  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  board  of  12 
directors,  one-third  of  whom  are  to  be  elected  each  year  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  corporation.  All  its  funds  in  excess  of  its  expenses  are 
also  to  go  to  its  further  improvement  and  enlargement,  and  are  not  to 
be  divided  among  its  members,  as  it  was  not  intended  to  be  a  source 
of  profit  to  anyone  but  its  students.  According  to  this  charter  the 
school  is  also  made,  in  a  certain  sense,  a  self-supporting  State  institu- 
tion, as,  if  for  any  cause  it  should  cease  to  exist,  all  of  its  property, 
both  personal  and  real,  is  to  go  to  the  public  school  fund  of  Kentucky. 

The  funds  for  the  opening  of  the  proposed  college  in  a  modest  way 
were  secured  by  subscription  from  the  members  of  the  corporation, 
the  apparatus  needed  to  illustrate  its  lectures  being  at  first  either 
furnished  by  the  professors  or  borrowed  from  the  Louisville  Female 
High  School.  Its  first  lecture  rooms  were  in  the  Preston  Pope  Build- 
ing, on  Third  street  between  Walnut  and  Guthrie  streets,  where  its 
first  session  was  opened  on  November  13,  1871.  Its  first  facult}^  was 


First  announcement,  p.  4. 


LOUISVILLE    COLLEGE    OF    PHARMACY.  293 

constituted  as  follows:  Thomas  E.  Jenkins,  M.  I).,  professor  of  mate- 
ria  medica;  L.  D.  Kastenbine,  M.  D.,  professor  of  chemistry;  C. 
Lewis  Diehl,  professor  of  theory  and  practice  of  pharmacy. 

The  opening  had  been  delayed  about  one  month  longer  than  the 
date  that  had  been  arranged  for,  and  consequently  the  first  session 
lasted  about  one  month  longer  than  usual,  ending  in  the  first  week  in 
April.  Attendance  upon  two  such  sessions,  together  with  four  years' 
apprenticeship,  w as  made  a  requirement  for  graduation. 

In  1872  Dr.  Jenkins  resigned  his  chair,  which  was  then  denominated 
the  chair  of  materia  medica  and  botany,  and  it  was  filled  loy  the  appoint- 
ment of  Emil  Scheffer,  Ph.  G.  Dr.  Scheffer  held  the  chair  until  1881, 
when  he  resigned,  and  Edwrard  Goebel,  Ph.  G.,  was  elected  as  his  suc- 
cessor, Dr.  Scheffer  becoming  an  emeritus  professor.  Upon  the  death 
of  Professor  Goebel,  in  1889,  the  chair  of  botany  was  separated  from 
that  of  materia  medica  and  Oscar  C.  Dilly,  Ph.  G.,  elected  to  the 
latter,  while  Otto  E.  Mueller,  who  had  already  been  teacher  of  botany 
for  at  least  a  session  previous,  was  selected  to  fill  the  former.  Pro- 
fessor Diehl  held  the  chair  of  pharmacy  until  1882,  when  he  retired 
on  account  of  poor  health,  and  B.  Buckel,  Ph.  G.,  M.  D.,  was  chosen 
to  fill  the  vacancj^. 

Meanwhile  the  institution  had  continued  to  prosper.  Early  in  its 
history,  through  the  liberality  of  the  druggists  of  Louisville  and  the 
neighboring  cities,  it  was  furnished  with  apparatus  and  specimens 
sufficient  to  abundantly  illustrate  its  lectures.  In  1873  it  sent  out  its 
first  graduating  class  of  6  members,  and  in  1875-76  its  means  had  so 
far  enlarged  that  complete  practical  laboratories  in  chemistry  and 
pharmacy  were  instituted.  It  soon  outgrew  its  original  quarters,  and 
in  1878  moved  to  a  larger  and  better  adapted  building  on  Green  near 
Second  street.  In  1880-81  it  had  a  class  of  45  students,  and  at  the 
end  of  that  session  had  graduated  55  young  men.  In  1888-89  its  70 
matriculates  represented  8  States  and  1  Territory,  mainly  in  the  South 
and  West,  and  its  graduating  class  of  that  year  contained  17  mem- 
bers. Up  to  1888,  inclusive,  it  had  had  129  graduates  from  11  different 
States. 

In  1889  the  college  removed  to  its  present  excellent  building,  on  the 
corner  of  First  and  Chestnut  streets,  which  had  been  purchased  for  the 
institution,  and  in  which  chemical  and  pharmaceutical  laboratories, 
equal  to  any  in  the  country,  were  established.  Its  faculty  was  then 
composed  of  veteran  teachers  of  recognized  abilit}7.  In  1890  women 
were  admitted  to  all  the  privileges  of  the  school  upon  the  same  terms 
as  men,  and  the  equivalent  of  a  grammar-school  certificate  from  a 
public  school  was  made  a  necessary  prerequisite  to  matriculation.  In 
1891  the  faculty  was  enlarged  by  the  appointment  of  the  following 
assistant  professors:  Edward  R.  Constantine,  of  chemistry;  H.  Otto 
Haeusgen,  of  pharmacy;  Burr  Overton,  of  materia  medica;  and  Louis 
Rominger,  of  botany. 


294  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

Until  August,  1894,  both  first  and  second  year  student  s  had  attended 
the  same  lectures,  but  at  that  time  the  course  was  rearranged  and  the 
students — except  in  botany,  which  was  kept  as  before — divided  into 
junior  and  senior  classes.  The  junior  instruction  was  placed  in  the 
charge  of  the  junior  professors,  who,  under  the  new  management, 
were  II.  Otto  Ilaeusgen,  in  chemistry;  Gordon  L.  Curr}7,  in  pharmacy, 
and  William  G.  Zubrod,  in  materia  medica.  A  new  microscopical 
laboratory  was  then  completed  and  the  chair  of  microscopy  created 
and  assigned  to  Professor  Rominger.  At  the  same  time  Prof.  C. 
Lewis  Diehl,  who  is  one  of  the  most  gifted  pharmacists  and  expert 
teachers  in  America,  having  recovered  his  health,  returned  to  his  old 
position  as  professor  of  pharmacy,  in  place  of  Dr.  Buckel.  The  office 
of  dean  of  the  college  was  also  created,  and  was  filled  by  the  election 
of  Professor  Curry,  who  has  since  efficiently  discharged  its  duties. 
In  1895  a  summer  course  in  botan}7  was  established,  which  has  since 
been  maintained.  In  1897  H.  H.  Koehler,  M.  D.,  succeeded  Professor 
Rominger  as  professor  of  microscopy. 

The  average  matriculation  of  the  college  in  recent  years  has  been 
about  60  annually,  and  its  students  have  frequently  represented  as 
many  as  9  States.  The  average  number  of  graduates  of  late  has  been 
about  18  each  year.  The  institution  has  altogether,  up  to  1898,  inclu- 
sive, 335  alumni,  wrho  have  come  from  as  many  as  18  States,  principally 
in  the  South  and  West,  but  more  largely  from  Kentucky  and  Indiana 
than  any  others.  The  college  points  with  pride  to  its  alumni  as  an 
evidence  of  the  high  character  of  its  faculty  and  curriculum.  Profess- 
ors Dilly,  Mueller,  Haeusgen,  Zubrod,  and  Curry  of  its  present  fac- 
ulty are  graduates  of  the  institution.  Whatever  it  has  been  able  to 
accomplish  has  been  due  to  the  excellence  of  its  own  work,  as  it  has 
risen  from  its  humble  beginnings  without  any  endowment  or  other 
sources  of  revenue  than  the  tuition  fees  of  its  own  students.  Its 
course  still  extends  through  two  sessions  of  six  months  each,  running 
from  the  1st  of  October  to  1st  of  March,  as  originally  established, 
but  the  lengthening  of  the  course  has  been  favorably  discussed,  and 
while  no  definite  action  has  yet  been  taken,  it  is  probable  that  the 
period  of  graduation  will  soon  be  made  three  or  four  years  instead  of 
two.  The  system  of  instruction  has  recently  been  put  more  distinct- 
ively upon  a  university  basis,  in  order  to  better  adapt  it  to  the  needs 
of  individual  students,  and  the  lengthening  of  the  required  course  in 
chemistry  for  the  coming  session  is  at  present  under  advisement. 
The  course,  as  now  constituted,  requires  attendance  upon  two  years' 
lecture  courses  in  the  departments  of  chemistry,  pharmacy,  materia 
medica,  and  botany,  together  with  two  years'  practical  work  in  the 
pharmaceutical  laboratory  and  one  year  each  in  the  laboratories  of 
chemistry  and  microscopy. 

The  present  college  corporation  is  composed  of  72  members,  of  whom 
Oscar  A.  Beckmann  is  president,  and  Gordon  L.  Curry  and  Albert  J. 
Shoettlin,  secretaries. 


THE    SOUTHERN    NORMAL    SCHOOL.  295 

The  college  faculty,  as  now  constituted,  is  as  follows:  E.  Sc*hef- 
fer,  Ph.  G.,  emeritus  professor  of  materia  medica  and  botany;  L.  D. 
Kastenbine,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  chemistry;  C.  Lewis  Diehl, 
Ph.  M.,  professor  of  theory  and  practice  of  pharmacy;  Oscar  C.  Dilly, 
Ph.  G.,  professor  of  materia  medica;  Otto  E.  Mueller,  Ph.  G.,  pro- 
fessor of  botany;  H.  H.  Koehler,  M.  D.,  professor  of  microscopy. 
Junior  professors:  H.  Otto  Haeusgen,  Ph.  G.,  chemistry;  Gordon  L. 
Curry,  Ph.  G.,  pharmacy;  William  G.  Zubrod,  Ph.  G.,  materia  medica. 
Dean :  Gordon  L.  Curry,  Ph.  G. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Catalogues  and  other  sources  of  general  information,  with  some  reference  to 
Williams's  Ohio  Falls  Cities. 

THE   SOUTHERN  NORMAL   SCHOOL,   BOWLING  GREEN. 

The  usual  title  of  this  institution,  as  at  present  managed,  is  The 
Southern  Normal  School  and  Business  College,  as  it  is  composed  of 
what  are  really  two  separate  schools  under  one  management.  Its 
normal  department  is  worthy  of  being  given  a  place  among  the  pro- 
fessional institutions  of  the  State.  Its  business  department,  being 
without  the  scope  of  this  monograph,  will  only  be  noticed  incidentally, 
the  two  schools  being  closely  allied  in  management,  and  also,  to  some 
extent,  in  faculties. 

The  Southern  Normal  School  is  the  only  distinctively  normal  school 
in  Kentucky  that  has  had  a  continuous  history  for  any  length  of  time. 
It  wras  organized  as  a  training  school  for  teachers  at  Glasgow,  Ky.,  in 
the  autumn  of  1875  by  Prof.  A.  W.  Mell.  Professor  Mell  was  an 
enthusiastic  teacher  and  was  very  much  interested  in  normal  work, 
having  graduated  at  the  National  Normal  at  Lebanon,  Ohio.  His  chief 
aim  in  establishing  the  Southern  Normal  was  the  education  of  teachers 
for  higher  professional  service.  As  the  school  grew,  the  business 
department  was  later  added  as  a  further  feature. 

Soon  after  its  opening  the  institution  was  chartered  by  legislative 
action.  This  charter  provided  for  courses  in  music  and  art,  as  well  as 
the  usual  literary  course,  and  allowed  the  granting  of  the  customary 
college  degrees.  Professor  Mell  conducted  the  school  successf ully  for 
a  number  of  years  in  Glasgow,  having,  after  a  time,  associated  with 
himself  Prof.  J.  T.  Williams,  as  joint  proprietor  and  coprincipal. 
Professor  Williams  had  more  especial  charge  of  the  business  depart- 
ment, which  had  grown  to  considerable  proportions,  although  always 
subordinate  to  the  normal  idea. 

In  1884  the  school  was  moved  by  the  proprietors  to  Bowling  Green, 
which  could  furnish  better  accommodations  than  Glasgow,  and  was  in 
some  other  respects  a  more  desirable  location.  In  its  new  situation 
the  institution  occupied  the  buildings  formerly  used  by  Bowling  Green 
Female  College,  which  had  for  many  years  been  a  flourishing  female 


296  HISTORY    OP    HIGHER.    EDTOATIOX    IN    KENTUCKY. 

school,  but  had  been  lately  suspended  on  account  of  financial  diffi- 
culties. The  buildings  cost  originally  over  $20,000  and  were  well 
arranged  and  well  suited  for  educational  purposes.  In  January,  1  ssr>, 
a  more  liberal  charter  for  the  school  was  received  from  the  legislature, 
which  granted  to  the  holders  of  its  higher  degrees  the  right  to  teach 
in  any  county  in  the  State  without  further  license.  This  privilege 
was  subsequently  withdrawn  by  the  legislature,  as  it  was  from  all 
similar  schools  in  the  State. 

The  institution  was  fairly  successful  at  its  new  location  until  1800, 
when  Professors  Mell  and  Williams  retired  from  its  management.  1  hir- 
ing the  fifteen  years  which  had  elapsed  since  its  foundation  the  school 
had  had  quite  an  able  faculty  which,  besides  Professor  Mell,  who  had 
more  than  a  local  reputation  as  a  teacher,  included  such  men  as  T.  F. 
McBeath  in  natural  science,  G.  R.  Klinkard  in  languages,  and  Florence 
Reese  in  elocution.  During  this  period  its  average  annual  matricu- 
lation was  about  250  students,  and  it  turned  out  many  well-equipped 
teachers  and  business  men,  among  whom  arc  numbered  all  of  its  later 
proprietors  and  managers. 

In  1890  H.  A.  Evans  and  W.  J.  Davis,  who  were  graduates  of  the 
school,  succeeded  Professors  Mell  and  Williams  in  its  management, 
but  before  the  end  of  the  school  year  they  were  succeeded  by  II.  Mel. 
Fletcher  and  J.  R.  Alexander.  During  the  scholastic  year  1891-92 
Professor  Alexander  had  sole  charge  of  the  institution.  During  this 
time,  in  shifting  its  proprietorship  from  one  to  another,  it  had  natu- 
rally lost  much  of  its  former  prestige.  In  September,  1892,  H.  H. 
Cherry  and  T.  C.  Cherry,  together  with  Professors  Alexander  and 
Fletcher,  alumni  of  the  school,  became  its  joint  proprietors  under  the 
title  of  Cherry  Brothers,  and  have  since  managed  it  very  successfully. 
Professor  Alexander  is  still  a  prominent  member  of  its  faculty. 

The  last  six  years  in  the  history  of  the  school  have  been  a  period  of 
considerable  expansion,  so  that,  while  its  attendance  had  during  the 
ten  years  prior  to  1896  averaged  about  400  annually,  in  1896-97  it 
was  about  600,  and  from  September  to  May  of  1897-98,  683  students 
were  enrolled  in  the  various  departments. 

Cherry  Brothers,  while  maintaining  the  standing  and  reputation  of 
the  normal  school,  have  emphasized  the  business  department  for 
which  they  have  secured  a  charter  which  erects  it  into  a  separate 
institution  under  the  same  management.  It  has  been  given  the  title 
of  the  Bowling  Green  Business  College.  Besides  the  usual  business 
courses  in  bookkeeping  in  all  of  its  various  practical  forms,  in  short- 
hand, telegraphy,  typewriting,  and  penmanship,  it  has  also  an 
English  course  for  those  who  wish  to  take  some  literary  work  in  addi- 
tion to  their  commercial  course;  and  all  of  its  students  are  allowed  to 
attend  any  of  the  classes  of  the  normal  school  without  extra  expense. 
The  business  college  has  of  late  had  about  80  graduates  a  year  in  all 
departments.  Its  sessions  continue  throughout  the  entire  year  and  its 


THE  SOUTHERN  NORMAL  SCHOOL.  297 

work  is  so  arranged  that  students  can  enter  with  profit  at  any  time. 
The  normal  school  has  each  year  four  terms  of  ten  weeks  each  and  a 
summer  term  of  eight  weeks.  This  last  term  is  especially  intended 
to  furnish  normal  training  to  public  school-teachers  during  their 
vacation. 

In  1890-07  considerable  improvements  in  the  buildings  of  the  insti- 
tution were  made,  as  well  as  additions  to  its  educational  apparatus. 
Its  faculty  was  also  materially  enlarged,  among  the  additions  being 
Prof.  J.  C.  Willis,  who  has  considerable  reputation  as  a  teacher,  espe- 
cially in  normal  school  work.  Tie  resigned  the  presidency  of  Southern 
Indiana  Normal  School,  at  Mitchell,  Ind.,  to  accept  his  present  posi- 
tion. In  January,  1898,  superior  accommodations  were  secured  for 
the  business  college  in  the  new  Neale  Building,  centrally  located  in 
the  business  portion  of  the  town,  where  it  occupies  the  entire  upper 
story  of  a  large  and  handsome  building,  and  has  an  excellent  equip- 
ment. 

The  Southern  Normal  School  has  been  coeducational  from  its 
foundation.  It  has  also,  throughout  its  history,  been  entirely  unen- 
dowed, and  has  depended  solely  upon  tuition  fees  for  its  support.  Its 
objects  and  methods,  in  a  general  way,  may,  perhaps,  best  be  seen 
from  the  following  extracts,  taken  from  a  recent  catalogue: 

The  objects  set  forth  in  the  founding  of  the  Southern  Normal  were 
twofold,  viz:  (1)  To  furnish  the  elements  of  a  liberal  education,  under 
the  following  conditions:  (a)  The  advantages  of  the  school  are  shared 
by  whites  only — both  male  and  female — without  distinction;  (b)  the 
time  required  is  the  least  possible  consistent  with  thorough  work  in 
all  departments;  (c)  classes  and  studies  are  so  arranged  that  students 
who  may  not  be  able  to  complete  a  full  course  in  any  department  may 
enter  at  any  time,  study  what  is  most  desirable,  and  get  full  credit 
for  what  they  accomplish ;  (d)  students  in  the  Southern  Normal  can 
leave  off  at  any  stage,  recruit  their  health  or  finances,  and  return  to 
complete  the  course  at  any  future  time.  (2)  To  bring  the  expense 
within  the  reach  of  all  classes  who  may  desire  an  education,  and  sub- 
ject to  the  following  conditions :  (a)  Tuition  rates  are  kept  sufficiently 
high  to  provide  adequate  facilities  in  all  departments;  (b)  rates  for 
board  and  other  accommodations  are  kept  at  low  figures  of  cost,  as 
based  upon  the  lowest  wholesale  cash  rates  for  large  quantities  of 
goods. 

By  the  use  of  such  methods  the  institution  has  undoubtedly  been 
able  to  do  an  important  educational  work  in  bringing  better  educa- 
tional facilities  within  the  reach  of  manj^  not  otherwise  able  to  secure 
them.  That  there  is  a  demand  for  instruction  of  this  character  is 
shown  by  the  comparatively  large  matriculation  of  the  school.  This 
has  grown  so  of  late  that  the  institution,  probably  with  good  founda- 
tion, claims  to  be  the  largest  normal  school  in  the  South.  Its  students 
come  from  many  of  the  States  of  the  South  and  West  outside  of  Ken- 


298  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

tucky  and  her  neighboring  States,  22  States  being  recently  represented 
by  its  enrollment. 

The  institution  offers  a  preparatory  course,  a  regular  teachers' 
course,  a  State  teachers'  course,  and  engineering,  scientific,  and  clas- 
sical courses,  besides  special  courses  in  music,  art,  elocution,  and 
physical  culture.  Special  lecture  courses  are  also  provided.  Its 
graduates  in  the  B.  S.  course,  its  most  popular  higher  course,  have  aver- 
aged about  15  annually  of  late.  In  1897-98  there  were  19  scientific 
graduates,  and  150  graduates  in  the  shorter  teachers' course.  Among 
the  graduates  of  the  school  there  are  a  number  of  teachers,  editors, 
and  public  men  of  considerable  note.  The  following  is  the  list  of  the 
present  faculty:  II.  H.  Cherry,  T.  C.  Cherry,  J.  C.  Willis,  J.  R.  Alex- 
ander, C.  T.  Bass,  J.  L.  Harman,  F.  S.  Broussard,  A.  B.  I^on,  W.  S. 
Ashby,  Mrs.  H.  H.  Cherry,  Mrs.  T.  C.  Cherry,  Mrs.  J.  C.  Willis,  Miss 
Lissa  Morris,  Miss  Mattie  Lewis,  Mrs.  Josephine  Fayne,  Miss  Ona 
Brock,  Miss  Mary  Beisel,  and  Miss  Mabel  Fayne.  A  number  of  these 
give  instruction  both  in  the  normal  school  and  business  college. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

The  Southern  Educator  for  September,  1896,  and  March,  1898,  a  quarterly  pub- 
lished by  the  school,  supplemented  by  the  usual  sources  of  general  information. 

STATE   NORMAL   SCHOOL,    FRANKFORT. 

This  institution  is  exclusively  for  colored  persons,  and  may  be  called 
a  branch  of  the  State  college  at  Lexington  in  the  sense  that  the  funds 
of  the  two  institutions  are  drawn  in  general  from  the  same  sources, 
the  State  and  Federal  Governments,  and  their  courses  of  instruction 
are  required  to  be  somewhat  parallel. 

The  special  demand  that  called  the  State  Normal  School  into  exist- 
ence was  the  need  of  trained  teachers  for  the  colored  public  schools 
of  the  State,  and  those  who  may  be  mentioned  as  leaders  in  the  effort 
to  bring  about  its  organization  are  Rev.  William  J.  Simmons,  Prof. 
J.  M.  Maxwell,  Rev.  C.  H.  Parrish,  Hon.  George  W.  Gentry,  Prof. 
J.  H.  Jackson  (who  has  been  the  principal  of  the  school  from  its  incep- 
tion), and  others,  several  of  them  being  among  the  most  prominent 
colored  men  in  Kentucky. 

The  act  establishing  the  school  was  approved  May  18,  1886,1  and 
declares  its  leading  object  "  shall  be  the  preparation  of  teachers  for 
teaching  in  the  colored  public  schools  of  Kentucky."  An  annual 
appropriation  of  $3,000  was  given  for  the  maintenance  of  the  institu- 
tion, the  organization  and  management  of  which  were  committed  to  a 
board  of  trustees,  consisting  of  one  member  from  each  of  the  three 
superior  court  districts  of  the  State,  to  whom  was  added  the  State 
superintendent  of  public  instruction  as  an  ex-officio  member  and 
chairman  of  the  board.  This  board,  after  receiving  proposals  for  the 


Chapter  1297,  laws  of  1886. 


STATE    NORMAL    SCHOOL    AT    FRANKFORT.  299 

location  of  the  institution  from  Owensboro,  Knottsville,  Hopkirisville, 
Bowling  Green,  Danville,  Lexington,  and  Frankfort,  considered  the 
offer  of  Frankfort  the  most  advantageous,  and  accordingly  located 
the  school  there.  The  State  supplemented  the  donation  of  Frankfort 
by  an  appropriation  of  $8,700,  and  a  substantial  and  commodious 
main  building  was  soon  erected  on  the  land  granted,  which  contained 
about  25  acres  and  was  situated  about  a  mile  from  the  town  limits. 

John  H.  Jackson,  A.  M.,  a  graduate  of  Berea  College  and  a  teacher 
of  several  years'  experience,  having  been  elected  principal,  the  school 
was  first  opened  on  October  11,  1887.  It  was  made  coeducational 
from  the  beginning.  Only  a  normal  department  was  maintained  for 
the  first  three  years,  during  which  time  Principal  Jackson  had  only 
one  assistant.  Tuition  was  free  in  the  department  to  residents  of  the 
State  who  pledged  themselves  to  teach  twice  as  long  in  the  public 
schools  of  the  State  as  the  period  of  their  attendance.  Fifty-five  stu- 
dents, from  21  counties  of  the  State,  were  present  the  first  year, 
while  in  1888-89  there  were  87  from  32  counties,  and  in  1889-90,  74 
from  26  counties. 

The  institution  received  its  proportionate  part l  of  the  Congressional 
act  of  July  30,  1890,  commonly  known  as  the  Merrill  Act,  and  a  con- 
siderable enlargement  in  its  faculty  and  in  the  scope  of  its  work  was 
soon  brought  about.  Its  faculty  was  soon  increased  to  five  teachers, 
and  by  a  legislative  act,  approved  May  22,  1893,  agricultural,  mechan- 
ical, and  domestic  departments  were  regularly  organized.  At  the  same 
time  the  direction  of  the  school  was  transferred  to  three  trustees, 
selected  from  the  county  in  which  it  is  located,  instead  of  the  superior 
court  districts,  as  before,  thus  securing  more  direct  and  therefore 
more  intelligent  supervision.  Students  in  the  new  departments  weie 
also  about  this  time  relieved  of  the  pledge  to  teach  in  the  public 
schools  of  the  State,  to  which  only  normal  students  were  to  be  required 
to  subscribe.  The  latter  were  also,  upon  graduation,  to  be  granted 
State  certificates,  which  entitled  them  to  teach  in  an}^  county  of  the 
State  without  further  examination.  The  course  of  study  was  further 
systematized  in  such  a  waj^  as  to  require  a  uniform  period  of  three 
3rears  for  graduation  in  all  the  departments. 

The  equipment  of  the  school  was  soon  afterwards  improved  by  the 
erection  of  a  dormitory  for  girls,  at  a  cost  of  $3,000,  $2,000  of  which 
came  from  a  legislative  appropriation  arid  $1,000  from  the  trustees  of 
the  Slater  fund.  A  mechanical  shop,  a  laundry,  and  two  neat  cottages 
had  either  already  been  added  or  were  soon  afterwards.  These 
increased  facilities  soon  led  to  a  considerably  larger  attendance,  there 
being  122  students  in  1895-1896  and  152  in  1896-97.  Up  to  the  end  of 
1896  the  average  attendance  in  the  normal  department  had  been  about 

1  This  is  14.5  per  cent,  and  amounted  to  $2,175  in  1893,  since  which  time,  accord- 
ing to  the  provisions  of  the  bill,  it  has  increased  $145  a  year,  which  it  will  do 
until  1900. 


300  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION"    IN    KENTUCKY. 

100,  in  the  mechanical  department  about  12,  and  in  the  agricultural 
department,  including  those  to  whom  lectures  were  given,  about  40. 
New  demands  have  recently  led  to  a  further  enlargement  of  the  equip- 
ment and  means  of  instruction.  In  1890  a  professor's  cottage  was 
erected,  and  in  1897,  5  acres  of  additional  land  were  purchased  for  the 
agricultural  department.  Also,  in  the  autumn  of  the  latter  j7ear  an 
addition  was  made  to  the  main  building,  at  a  cost  of  $3,000,  the  appro- 
priation for  which  had  been  provided  for  by  a  legislative  act  of  March 
5,  1896.  In  1898  the  school  received  its  share  of  the  land-grant  fund 
of  1862  for  agricultural  colleges.  This  gives  to  it  a  permanent  endow- 
ment fund  of  $23,925.  Its  property  in  1897  was  estimated  to  be  worth 
about  $19,000. 

The  institution  offers  a  regular  three  years'  normal  course,  also  a 
course  of  the  same  length  in  agriculture,  in  the  mechanic  arts,  and  in 
domestic  economy.  It  has  also  recently  added  a  department  of  music, 
and  maintains  besides  a  preparatory  course  of  two  years.  For  the 
convenience  of  teachers  who  can  only  attend  for  two  out  of  the  three 
terms  of  the  school  year,  it  maintains  a  special  teachers'  course  of  four 
years,  all  of  the  last  of  which  must  be  spent  in  the  institution.  Its 
means  of  instruction  are  ample,  as  it  has  very  good  workshops  and  a 
good  complement  of  educational  apparatus  generally.  It  has  also  laid 
the  foundations  of  a  good  working  library. 

The  school  has  had,  up  to  1898,  inclusiA^e,  altogether  66  graduates, 
mostly,  if  not  entirely,  confined  to  the  normal  department,  which  is 
doing  an  excellent  work  in  furnishing  the  colored  public  schools  of 
the  State  with  well-equipped  teachers.  The  industrial  departments  of 
the  school  are  also  an  important  feature,  as  they  are  now  in  a  position 
to  become  a  strong  factor  in  developing  the  colored  population  of  the 
State  industrially  by  furnishing  to  them  the  opportunity  for  acquir- 
ing the  rudiments  of  useful  trades.  The  institution  is  doing  much  to 
raise  the  professional  standard  of  the  colored  teachers  of  Kentucky  as 
well  as  stimulating  the  colored  youth  of  the  State  to  greater  indus- 
trial usefulness.  Much  of  its  success  is  due  to  the  well-directed  efforts 
of  Principal  Jackson,  who  enjoys  a  national  reputation  as  a  teacher 
among  his  people.  The  following  is  the  present  faculty,  with  the  chair 
of  each  member:  John  H.  Jackson,  A.  M.,  president,  and  professor  of 
didactics,  mathematics,  and  civics;  W.  D.  Thomas,  professor  of  nat- 
ural sciences  and  of  agriculture;  Moses  A.  Davis,  professor  of  mechan- 
ics and  of  manual  training;  Mary  E.  Jackson,  professor  in  the  normal 
department;  T.  Augustus  Reid,  professor  in  the  preparatory  depart- 
ment; Bettie  M.  Bailey,  matron,  and  professor  of  domestic  economy. 
The  chair  of  vocal  and  instrumental  music  is  at  present  unoccupied. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Reports  of  the  State  superintendent  of  public  instruction,  together  with  the 
usual  sources  of  general  information. 


LOUISVILLE    NATIONAL    MEDICAL    COLLEGE.  301 

LOUISVILLE   NATIONAL   MEDICAL   COLLEGE,  LOUISVILLE. 

As  colored  men  were  excluded  from  all  of  the  other  medical  col- 
leges of  Kentucky,  and,  indeed,  from  those  of  most  States  of  the 
Union,  this  institution  was  founded  to  furnish  them  the  proper  facili- 
ties for  acquiring  a  medical  education,  but  its  advantages  have  not 
been  offered  to  men  only,  as  it  has  been  coeducational  from  its  estab- 
lishment. One  of  the  chief  promoters  of  the  enterprise  was  Dr.  H. 
Fitzbutler,  who  was  probably  the  first  colored  man  in  Kentucky  to 
enter  upon  the  regular  practice  of  medicine.  He  has  been  dean  of 
the  institution  since  its  organization.  He  had,  as  early  as  1874, 
begun  giving  instruction  to  students  in  the  rudiments  of  medicine. 
Dr.  Rufus  Conrad,  also  of  Louisville,  and  Dr.  W.  A.  Burney,  of  New 
Albany,  Ind.,  had  several  years  later  become  similarly  engaged  to 
some  extent. 

These  preceptors,  in  1886,  applied  to  the  State  legislature  for  an  act 
authorizing  them  to  establish  a  regular  medical  college  for  their  race 
in  Louisville.  Tne  bill  looking  toward  this  end  was  introduced  late 
in  that  legislative  session  and  so  was  passed  over  in  the  rush  of  other 
business  at  the  end,  but  it  was  taken  up  at  the  next  session  and 
approved  on  April  24,  1888. 1  This  act  incorporated  the  proposed 
institution  under  the  name  of  the  National  Medical  College  of  Louis- 
ville, made  the  3  teachers  above  mentioned  its  first  board  of  trustees, 
or  regents,  and  conferred  upon  it  the  power  of  granting  diplomas  "in 
medicine  or  surgery,  or  in  both  medicine  and  surgery."  This  charter 
also  required  the  students  of  the  school  to  have  studied  medicine  for 
three  full  years  and  to  have  taken  two  full  courses  of  lectures  prior 
to  graduation.  The  practice  of  the  institution  from  the  beginning 
seems  to  have  required  three  full  courses  of  lectures  for  graduation. 

Its  incorporators  constituted  the  principal  part  of  the  first  faculty 
of  the  school,  which  was  regularly  opened  in  the  fall  of  1888  in  a  hall 
on  the  corner  of  Ninth  and  Magazine  streets.  Instruction  had  been 
carried  on  by  the  faculty  for  the  past  two  years  in  anticipation  of  the 
granting  of  the  charter,  and  so  6  students,  all  of  whom  had  attended 
other  medical  colleges  as  well  and  had  studied  under  preceptors  for 
at  least  four  years,  were  graduated  at  the  first  commencement  in  the 
spring  of  1889,  when,  for  the  first  time  in  Kentucky,  the  degree  of 
M.  D.  was  conferred  on  a  colored  man. 

In  the  summer  of  1889  the  faculty  was  enlarged,  chiefly  by  the 
addition  of  graduates  of  the  school,  for  which  a  new  and  much  more 
suitable  building  was  purchased  by  the  trustees.  This  building  is 
situated  on  Green  near  First  street,  and  had  for  the  previous  eleven 
years  been  used  by  the  Louisville  College  of  Pharmacy.  It  was  occu- 
pied by  the  National  Medical  College  in  the  autumn  of  this  year  and 
lias  since  remained  its  home.  Soon  after  the  change  of  location  the 


Chapter  1234,  acts  of  1888. 


302  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

faculty  completed  arrangements  for  a  free  dispensary  in  connection 
with  the  institution,  where  all  diseases  might  be  treated  and  medi- 
cines furnished  free  of  charge,  thus  furnishing  clinical  advantages  to 
its  students.  New  students  entered  the  second  session,  but,  as  none 
of  these  had  by  its  close  come  up  to  the  required  standard,  only  2 
honorary  degrees  were  conferred  in  1890  upon  2  aged  practitioners. 
In  1891  there  were  4  regular  graduates,  one  of  whom  was  the  first 
woman  in  Kentucky  to  receive  the  degree  of  M.  D.  In  1891-92,  22 
students  from  7  States,  mainly  in  the  South,  were  in  attendance,  and 
at  the  end  of  the  year  6  degrees  were  conferred. 

In  April,  1894,  the  institution  was  officially  recognized  by  the  Ken- 
tucky State  board  of  health  as  one  of  the  regular  medical  colleges  of 
the  State.  In  September  of  this  year  a  preliminary  course  of  about  a 
month's  duration,  prior  to  the  opening  of  the  regular  session,  was 
established  and  has  since  been  maintained.  The  regular  session 
extends  from  October  to  April. 

Beginning  with  1896,  the  college  required  of  all  its  students  attend- 
ance upon  four  years  of  lectures  as  a  prerequisite  to  graduation. 
It  also,  in  this  year,  in  order  to  furnish  proper  hospital  privileges  to 
its  students,  opened  an  auxiliary  hospital  at  1027-1029  West  Green 
street.  This  hospital  has  12  large  rooms,  with  a  capacity  for  40 
patients,  and  is  open  throughout  the  year. 

The  number  of  students  in  attendance  upon  the  institution  has 
gradually  increased  in  recent  years  until  in  1897-98  there  were  42, 
who  represented  10  States  of  the  Union,  and  Jamaica,  There  have 
been  from  4  to  8  graduates  each  year,  the  total  number  of  degrees 
conferred  up  to  1898,  inclusive,  numbering  54.  The  school  has 
received  some  contributions,  but  has  no  regular  endowment.  It  was 
put  into  operation  by  funds  obtained  by  subscription  and  has  since 
been  maintained  practically  entirely  by  tuition  fees. 

The  course  offered  by  the  school  embraces  the  departments  of  chem- 
istry and  toxicology,  materia  medica  and  therapeutics,  theory  and  prac- 
tice of  medicine,  physical  diagnosis,  obstetrics,  gynecology,  pathology, 
bacteriology,  principles  and  practice  of  surgery,  physiology,  pharma- 
cology, and  anatomy  and  histology.  The  faculty  as  at  present  con- 
stituted is  composed  of:  H.  Fitzbutler,  M.  D.,  dean,  professor  of  prin- 
ciples of  surgery  and  materia  medica,  surgeon-in-chief  to  auxiliary 
hospital ;  W.  A.  Burney,  M.  D. ,  professor  of  gynecology,  gynecologist  to 
auxiliary  hospital;  W.  O.  Vance,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  chemistry 
and  diseases  of  ear,  throat,  and  nose;  E.  D.  Whedbee,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  pro- 
fessor of  obstetrics;  William  T.  Peyton,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  theory 
and  practice  of  medicine;  E.  R.  Gaddie,  M.  D.,  professor  of  physiology 
and  diseases  of  the  skin;  James  H.  Fitzbutler,  M.  D.,  professor  of 
anatomy,  histology,  and  clinical  surgery;  Charles  F.  Maxwell,  M.  D., 
professor  of  pathology  and  bacteriology;  B.  F.  Porter,  M.  D.,  pro- 
fessor of  nervous  diseases  and  insanity;  B.  B.  Hall,  M.  D.,  professor 


SOUTHWESTERN    HOMEOPATHIC    MEDICAL    COLLEGE.          303 

of  ophthalmology;  R.  F.  White,  Phar.  D.,  demonstrator  of  chemistry 
in  laboratory  and  professor  of  inorganic  chemistry;  H.  W.  Conrad, 
M.  D.,  professor  of  electro- therapeutics;  J.  A.  Agnew,  D.  D.  S.,  pro- 
fessor of  dental  surgery;  James  R.  W.  Smith,  LL.  D.,  professor  of 
forensic  medicine.  There  are  also  2  instructors  and  1  demonstrator. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Historical  notes  in  various  catalogues  have  been  the  sole  source  upon  which 
this  sketch  has  been  based. 

SOUTHWESTERN   HOMEOPATHIC   MEDICAL   COLLEGE,  LOUISVILLE. 

The  Southwestern  Homeopathic  Medical  College  is  the  latest  candi- 
date for  public  favor  among  the  medical  colleges  of  Louisville,  and  is 
the  only  one  of  its  kind  in  the  section  of  the  country  in  which  it  is 
located.  It  was  organized  for  the  promulgation  of  the  principles  of 
homeopathy,  especially  in  the  Southwest,  whose  students  of  medicine 
had  hitherto  been  largely  deprived  of  the  opportunity  of  a  regular 
study  of  this  branch  of  the  science,  since,  as  a  rule,  they  preferred 
for  climatic  reasons  not  to  attend  a  Northern  homeopathic  college. 

The  proposed  school  had  been  talked  of  for  perhaps  two  years  prioi 
to  its  actual  organization  in  1892.  Its  articles  of  incorporation  were 
filed  on  August  30,  1892,  under  the  general  statutes  of  Kentucky,  its 
incorporators  being  August  Scheffel;  A.  L.  Monroe,  M.  D. ;  C.  P. 
Meredith,  M.  D.;  S.  M.  Norman;  Adam  Given,  M.  D. ;  R.  W.  Pearce, 
M.  D. ;  J.  H.  Dunn;  J.  A.  Lucy,  M.  D. ;  Sarah  J.  Millsop,  M.  D;  G.  O. 
Erni,  M.  D. ;  M.  Dills,  M.  D. ;  J.  T.  Bryan,  M.  D. ;  A.  G.  Smith,  M.D. ; 
S.  B.  Elliot,  M.  D. ;  and  Allison  Clokey,  M.  D.,  who  may  also  be  said 
to  be  those  who  were  mainly  instrumental  in  its  establishment.  The 
affairs  of  the  corporation  are  by  this  charter  placed  in  the  hands  of 
9  stockholder  trustees,  elected,  3  each  year  for  a  term  of  three  years, 
by  the  stockholders.  The  course  was  required  to  be  a  graded  one  of 
three  years,  and  a  first-class  teacher's  certificate,  or  ability  to  enter 
college,  was  made  a  preliminary  requirement  for  matriculation. 
Women  were  also  to  be  admitted  upon  the  same  terms  as  men.  It  was 
the  first  medical  college  for  white  students  in  the  South  to  make  such 
an  arrangement. 

With  funds  obtained  by  subscription  from  the  members  of  the  cor- 
poration a  suitable  building  on  Sixth  street  was  leased  and  properly 
fitted  up  for  the  opening  of  the  college,  which  took  place  on  October 
4,  1894. 

The  following  were  the  members  of  the  initial  faculty,  which,  as. 
will  be  seen,  was  largely  composed  of  the  incorporators  of  the  insti- 
tution: C.  P.  Meredith,  M.  D.,  and  J.  A.  Lucy,  M.  D.,  professors  of 
materia  medica;  A.  Leight  Monroe,  M.  D.,  professor  of  gynecology 
and  orificial  surgery;  Adam  Given,  M.  D.,  professor  of  theory  and 
practice,  pathology,  and  physical  diagnosis;  H,  G.  Bayless,  M.  D.,  and 


304  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

Malcom  Dills,  M.  D.,  professors  of  operative  and  clinical  surgery; 
G.  O.  Erni,  M.  D.,  professor  of  anatomy;  J.  T.  Bryan,  M.  D.,  profes- 
sor of  obstetrics;  W.  L.  Hartman,  M.  D.,  professor  of  ophthalmology 
and  otology;  J.  M.  Higgins,  M.  D.,  professor  of  chemistry  and  toxi- 
cology; Allison  Clokey,  M.  D.,  professor  of  physiology;  Sarah  J.  Mill- 
sop,  M.  D. ,  professor  of  hygiene  and  sanitary  science.  Edward  Herzer, 
M.  D.,  was  demonstrator  of  anatomy;  and  Judge  James  H.  Bowden, 
lecturer  on  medical  jurisprudence.  Dr.  Meredith  was  dean  of  the 
faculty,  and  Dr.  Clokey  registrar  or  secretary.  A  dispensary  was 
attached  to  the  institution,  in  charge  of  A.  G.  Smith,  M .  D. 

The  appointments  of  the  college  building  were  ample  for  its  pur- 
poses, its  lecture  and  dissecting  rooms  being  of  good  size  and  well 
lighted  and  ventilated,  while  its  other  apparatus  was  such  as  was 
needed.  The  method  of  instruction  used  from  the  beginning  was  that 
in  which  lectures  and  recitations  went  hand  in  hand,  accompanied  by 
demonstration,  all  students  being  required  to  perform  all  the  opera- 
tions for  themselves  during  their  course.  Seventeen  students,  repre- 
senting 4  States,  were  in  attendance  during  the  first  session.  Eight 
of  these  were  women,  and  2  of  them,  who  had  previously  taken  medical 
courses  elsewhere,  were  granted  diplomas  in  April,  1894. 

In  June,  1894,  the  college  was  recognized  officially  by  the  American 
Institute  of  Homeopathy  as  coming  under  that  body's  jurisdiction, 
with  whose  demands  in  regard  to  medical  education  its  requirements 
have  since  been  made  to  comply.  The  institution  was  also  early  given 
recognition  by  State  boards  of  health,  especially  those  of  Kentucky 
and  Illinois,  as  a  reputable  medical  college.  In  1895,  after  having 
experienced  considerable  opposition,  it  was  granted  equal  privileges 
with  the  other  medical  colleges  of  Louisville  in  the  city  hospital,  one 
of  the  largest  and  best  equipped  in  the  West,  having  500  beds,  for 
which  it  annually  appoints  2  of  its  graduates  as  internes.  In  1894 
the  clinical  advantages  of  the  institution  had  been  considerably 
enlarged  by  the  addition  of  a  hospital,  with  accommodations  for  12 
patients,  established  under  the  management  of  the  Ladies'  Homeo- 
pathic League,  and  in  1895  its  equipment  was  otherwise  improved  by 
the  purchase  of  a  complete  outfit  for  demonstration  in  microscopy  and 
bacteriology.  In  the  latter  year  also,  in  compliance  with  the  regula- 
tions of  the  American  Institute  of  Homeopathy,  a  four  years'  graded 
course  was  required  for  graduation  of  students  entering  upon  a  new 
course  of  study. 

In  1894-95  there  were  47  students,  who  represented  8  States,  16  of  the 
students  being  women.  Two  degrees  were  granted  at  the  end  of  this 
session,  but,  as  in  the  previous  year,  were  conferred  on  graduates  of 
other  medical  colleges.  In  1895-96,  45  students  were  in  attendance, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  session  the  first  regular  class,  consisting  of  2 
men  and  4  women,  was  graduated  from  the  institution.  The  matricu- 
lation during  the  past  two  years  has  been  somewhat  reduced,  owing 


SOUTHWESTERN   HOMEOPATHIC    MEDICAL    COLLEGE.          305 

probably,  as  in  the  case  of  the  other  medical  colleges,  to  the  greater 
requirements  demanded  for  graduation,  but  larger  classes  have  been 
graduated  during  the  period — 11  in  1897  and  13  in  1898.  The  college 
corporation  is  negotiating  for  the  purchase  of  the  building  the  insti- 
tution now  occupies,  and  should  the  change  in  proprietorship  take 
place,  it  is  probable  that  the  equipment  of  the  college  will  soon  be 
considerably  enlarged. 

The  departments  of  instruction  in  the  institution  are  those  of  a 
modern  medical  education  and  will  be  sufficiently  indicated  by  the 
chairs  of  the  various  professors  as  given  below.  The  college  has 
special  laboratories  for  investigations  in  histology,  microscopy,  and 
bacteriology,  as  well  as  a  regular  chemical  laboratory.  The  scholastic 
year  is  six  months  in  length  (extending  from  about  the  1st  of  October 
to  about  the  1st  of  April).  A  number  of  changes  have  from  time  to 
time  taken  place  in  the  faculty  of  the  institution.  In  1894,  Drs.  G.  S. 
Coons  and  R.  W.  Pearce  were  also  made  professors,  respectively,  of 
surgery  and  gynecology,  and  obstetrics;  and  Dr.  Herzer,  professor 
of  pedology  and  dermatology ;  Dr.  Hartman  resigned,  and  Drs.  G.  D. 
Troutman  and  G.  W.  Redmon  were  made  joint  professors  of  opthal- 
mology,  otology,  and  laryngology.  Ill  1895,  Drs.  Lucy,  Bay  less,  and 
Redmond  severed  their  connection  with  the  faculty,  Dr.  Higgins  was 
transferred  to  the  chair  of  mental  and  nervous  diseases,  and  J.  F. 
Elsom  was  made  professor  of  medical  chemistry,  microscopy,  his- 
tology, and  bacteriology,  while  Dr.  H.  C.  Kasselman  became  professor 
of  pathology  and  physical  diagnosis,  and  Dr.  J.  W.  Clark  of  dental 
surgery.  In  189G,  Professor  Elsom's  chair  was  divided,  chemistry 
being  assigned  to  Dr.  T.  Cecil  Hicks,  while  Dr.  F.  C.  Askenstedt 
received  microscopy  and  bacteriology;  at  the  same  time,  Dr.  Robert 
G.  Reed  became  Dr.  Troutman's  successor.  In  1897  the  connection 
with  the  faculty  of  Drs.  Given,  End,  Hicks,  and  Reed  was  dissolved, 
Dr.  Meredith  being  transferred  to  the  chair  of  theory  and  practice, 
Dr,  William  Pinkert  becoming  professor  of  descriptive  and  general 
anatomy,  and  Dr.  M.  H.  Brown,  who  had  previously  been  lecturer  on 
embryology,  being  made  also  professor  of  chemistry.  In  the  matter 
of  administration  Dr.  Monroe,  in  1894,  was  elected  dean  of  the  faculty, 
a  position  he  has  since  capably  and  acceptably  filled. 

The  following  list  of  the  present  faculty  will  show  the  changes 
which  occurred  in  1898:  A.  Leight  Monroe,  M.  D.,  professor  of  materia 
medica  and  clinical  gynecology;  H.  S.  Keller,  M.  D.,  adjunct  professor 
of  materia  medica;  C.  P.  Meredith,  M.  D.,  and  C.  A.  Mayer,  M.  D., 
professors  of  theory  and  practice;  H.  C.  Kasselman,  M.  D.,  professor 
of  pathology  and  physical  diagnosis;  M.  Dills,  M.  D.,  professor  of 
operative  surgery  and  genito-urinary  diseases;  George  S.  Coon,  M.  D., 
professor  of  clinical  surgery  and  didactic  gynecology;  John  H.  Bald- 
win, M.  D.,  adjunct  professor  of  surgery  and  demonstrator  of  minor 
surgery;  William  Pinkert,  M.  D.,  professor  of  descriptive  and  general 
2127— No.  25 20 


306'  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

anatomy;  J.  T.  Bryan,  •  M.  D.,  professor  of  obstetrics;  H.  L.  Lott, 
M.  D.,  adjunct  professor  of  obstetrics  and  lecturer  on  embryology; 
Ellis  H.  Milton,  M.  J).,  professor  of  chemistry,  toxicology,  and  uri- 
nalysis;  Allison  Clokey,  M.  D.,  professor  of  physiology  and  visceral 
anatomy;  F.  C.  Askenstedt,  M.  D.,  professor  of  microscopy,  histology, 
and  bacteriology;  Edward  Herzer,  M.  D.,  professor  of  pedology; 
J.  M.  Higgins,  M.  D.,  professor  of  mental  and  nervous  diseases;  J.  E. 
Mann,  M.  D.,  professor  of  ophthalmology,  otology,  laryngology,  and 
rhinology;  Sarah  J.  Millsop,  M.  D.,  professor  of  hygiene  and  sanitary 
science;  R.  W.  Pearce,  M.  D.,  emeritus  professor  of  obstetrics;  J.  W. 
Clark,  D.  D.  S.,  professor  of  dental  surgery.  The  faculty  contains 
in  addition  3  lecturers  and  demonstrators. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Information  furnished  by  Dr.  Allison  Clokey,  registrar  of  the  faculty.  The 
Louisville  Times  of  September  80,  1892,  and  catalogues. 

LOUISVILLE     PRESBYTERIAN     THEOLOGICAL     SEMINARY,    LOUISVILLE. 

The  Louisville  Presbyterian  Theological  Seminary,  although  the 
most  recently  established  institution  of  higher  education  of  its  own 
or  any  other  rank  in  Kentucky,  is  not  realty  new  in  idea,  but  dates 
back  in  spirit  and  conception  to  the  earliest  attempts  of  the  Presby- 
terians of  the  State  to  establish  a  theological  seminary  in  their  midst 
which  culminated,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  foundation  of  the  Danville 
Theological  Seminary  in  1853.  The  new  seminary  really  stands  in 
the  same  relation  to  the  seminary  at  Danville  as  Central  University 
does  to  Centre  College,  Louisville  Theological  Seminary  and  Central 
University  being  representative  institutions  of  the  Southern  Presby- 
terian Church,  while  Danville  Seminary  and  Centre  represent  the  orig- 
inal organization,  ordinarily  called,  in  contradistinction,  the  North- 
ern Presbyterian  Church.  Both  seminaries  are,  however,  wider  in 
their  church  relations  than  the  colleges,  as  the  former  in  a  certain 
sense  represent  the  whole  of  their  respective  churches,  while  the  lat- 
ter only  represent  the  respective  synods  of  Kentucky.  As  Louisville 
Seminary  includes,  as  it  were,  in  its  jurisdiction  any  theological 
department  which  might  be  attached  to  Central  University,  it  is  not 
now  probable  that  a  department  of  that  character  provided  for  in  the 
charter  of  that  institution  will  ever  be  organized. 

As  a  result  of  the  establishment  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian 
Church  in  1861  and  of  the  division  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  between 
the  two  churches  in  I860,  the  Southern  Church,  although  representing 
by  far  the  larger  part  of  the  former  constituency  of  the  institution, 
lost  control  of  Danville  Seminary,  which  had  been  founded  for  the 
whole  church  in  the  South  and  West,  but  in  the  disruption  had 


LOUISVILLE    PRESBYTERIAN    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY.       307 

remained  under  the  original  assembly.  Thus  deprived  of  any  general 
institution  in  its  midst  for  the  higher  professional  education  of  its 
ministry,  the-  Southern  Synod  of  Kentucky,  after  an  unsuccessful 
attempt  to  obtain  an  interest  in  the  control  of  Danville  Seminary 
upon  what  was  deemed  by  them  a  desirable  basis,  determined,  in  the 
spirit  of  the  fathers  of  the  church  in  Kentucky,  to  establish  a  semi- 
nary of  their  own  as  early  as  practicable.  The  contemplated  plan 
was  held  in  abeyance  for  some  time  on  account  of  the  demands  upon 
the  church's  resources  of  more  pressing  needs,  but  was  never  lost 
sight  of,  and  finally  reached  its  fruition  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Louisville  Presbyterian  Theological  Seminary  in  1893. 

About  1891,  Rev.  I.  S.  McElroy,  D.  D.,  as  the  financial  agent  of 
Central  University  and  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  began  to  take  active 
steps  to  raise  funds  for  the  proposed  institution.  He  succeeded  in 
the  next  two  years  in  obtaining  in  various  parts  of  the  State  pledges 
for  an  endowment  fund  of  $104,311  and  for  a  building  fund  of  $43,000.' 
In  securing  the  latter  fund  especially,  which  was  given  by  the  denomi- 
nation in  Louisville  on  condition  that  the  seminary  be  located  there, 
he  was  very  efficiently  assisted  by  Kev.  L.  H.  Blanton,  D.  D.,  chan- 
cellor of  Central  University.  Among  others  who  may  be  mentioned 
as  especially  instrumental  in  furthering  the  plan  of  the  proposed 
school  are  Rev.  E.  M.  Green,  D.  D. ;  Rev.  T.  D.  Witherspoon,  D.  D. ; 
Rev.'C.  R.  Hemphill,  D.  D. ;  Rev.  J.  S.  Lyons,  D.  D. ;  Col.  Bennett 
II.  Young;  Col.  T.  W.  Bullitt;  A.  J.  Alexander,  esq. ;  William  T. 
Grant,  esq. ;  and  George  W.  Swearingen,  esq. 

The  preliminary  steps  looking  toward  the  immediate  opening  of 
the  seminary  were  taken,  in  1892,  by  the  synods  of  Kentucky  and 
Missouri,  which  agreed  to  join  in  the  control  of  the  institution. 
They  invited  the  participation  of  the  synods  of  the  other  Southern 
States,  and  appointed  a  provisional  board  of  directors,  with  Rev.  E.  M. 
Green,  of  Kentucky,  chairman,  whose  duty  it  was  to  draw  up  a  charter 
as  a  legal  basis  for  the  school  and  frame  a  constitution  for  its  organiza- 
tion and  administration.  The  charter  and  constitution  were  adopted 
in  the  early  part  of  1893  by  the  associated  synods  of  Kentucky  and 
Missouri,  by  whom  the  first  regular  board  of  directors,  composed  of 
10  members  from  each  synod,  was  chosen.  This  board  was  soon 
afterwards  organized  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  where  it  was  decided  by  them 
to  locate  the  seminary  on  account  of  the  large  building  fund  offered 
by  the  city,  the  strength  of  its  Presbyterian  churches,  its  accessibility, 
and  its  admirable  advantages  in  other  respects.  The  organization  of 
the  institution  may  be  said  to  have  been  complete  when  the  super- 
vision over  it,  provided  for  by  its  charter  and  constitution,  was 
accepted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  church,  meeting  at  Macon, 
Ga.,  in  the  latter  part  of  May,  1893. 

1  Minutes  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  for  1893,  p.  502. 


308  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

The  charter  bears  the  date  of  May  3,  1893,  and  constitutes  the  sem- 
inary a  perpetual  corporation  under  the  general  statutes  of  Kentucky, 
declaring  its  purpose  to  be — 

The  education  and  training  of  young  men  as  ministers  of  the  gospel  according 
to  the  Confession  of  Faith,  catechisms,  and  other  standards  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  Unite  1  States,  commonly  known  as  the  Southern  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  their  support  and  maintenance  while  in  attendance,  as  far  as  may  be 
deemed  advisable  and  practicable. l 

It  puts  the  proposed  institution  under  the  management,  tempo- 
rarily, of  a  board  of  directors  consisting  of  10  members  from  each  of 
the  synods  of  Kentucky  and  Missouri,  as  already  constituted,  but 
provision  is  made  that  this  board  in  the  future  may  consist  of  not  less 
than  10  nor  more  than  50  members,  chosen  by  the  synods  joining  in  its 
control,  one-fifth  of  whom  shall  be  elected  each  year.  All  direct  con- 
trol of  the  institution,  both  as  to  its  property  and  other  affairs,  is 
vested  in  this  board,  but  the  General  Assembly  of  the  church  is  given 
the  power  to  veto  the  election  of  any  professor  or  his  transfer  from 
one  chair  to  another. 

According  to  its  constitution,  the  funds  belonging  to  the  seminary 
are  designated  as  (1)  the  building  fund,  (2)  the  endowment  fund,  (3) 
the  library  fund,  (4)  the  current  expenses  fund,  (5)  the  scholarship 
fund,  and  (6)  the  lecture-course  fund.  Its  course  of  instruction  is  to 
be  modeled  upon  the  university  plan  in  distinction  from  a  fixed  curric- 
ulum of  study,  and  as  originally  outlined  was  divided  into  the  9  inde- 
pendent schools  of  Biblical  introduction,  Old  Testament  exegesis,  New 
Testament  exegesis,  English  Bible  and  Biblical  theology,  systematic 
theology,  church  history  and  polity,  homiletics  and  pastoral  theology, 
apologetics,  and  elocution.  Students  are  required  to  be  graduates  of 
colleges  or  to  pass  a  prescribed  examination.  Each  professor  upon 
entering  office  is  required  to  publicly  subscribe  to  the  standard  of  the 
church.  There  are  no  distinctions  in  the  faculty,  except  that  the 
senior  professor  is  its  chairman.  Dr.  Marquess  thus  became  the 
chairman  of  the  first  faculty  of  the  institution,  which  was  constituted 
as  follows:  Rev.  William  Hoge  Marquess,  D.  D.,  professor  of  Old 
Testament  exegesis  and  of  the  English  Bible  and  Biblical  theology; 
Rev.  Charles  R.  Hemphill,  D.  D.,  professor  of  New  Testament  exe- 
gesis; Rev.  G.  D.  Witherspoon,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  professor  of  homi- 
letics, pastoral  theology,  and  of  Biblical  instruction;  Rev.  Francis  R. 
Beattie,  Ph.  D.,  D.  D.,  professor  of  sj^stematic  theology  and  apolo- 
getics; Rev.  T.  M.  Hawes,  professor  of  elocution;  Rev.  Edwin  Muller, 
adjunct  professor  of  church  history  and  church  polity. 

The  seminary  was  first  opened  on  October  2,  1893,  a  commodious 
house  on  Second  street  near  Broadway  being  purchased  for  it,  while 
another  near  by  was  rented  and  fitted  up  as  a  dormitory  for  students. 


1  Section  III  of  charter,  given  in  the  minutes  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  for 
1893,  p.  478. 


LOUISVILLE    PRESBYTERIAN    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY.       309 

The  Sunday-school  and  Bible-class  rooms  of  the  First  and  Second 
Presbyterian.  Churches  were  at  first  used  for  lecture  rooms  and  for 
chapel  exercises.  Three  valuable  libraries  especially  suited  to  its 
needs,  the  gifts  of  Rev.  Dr.  J.  B.  Adger,  of  Rev.  Dr.  Symington,  and 
of  the  heirs  of  Rev.  Dr.  Stuart  Robinson,  furnished  it  with  3,000  vol- 
umes as  the  foundation  of  a  future  collection.  Twenty-five  students 
were  present  at  the  opening,  and  before  the  end  of  the  first  session 
31  were  in  attendance,  who  represented  9  States  of  the  Union  and  3 
other  countries.  In  1895-96  the  number  had  risen  to  60,  from  12 
States  and  1  foreign  country.  This  has  continued  to  be  about  the 
average  attendance  since.  In  1895  the  institution  had  5  graduates; 
in  1896,  15,  and  in  1897,  13. 

In  18&5  Mrs.  N.  W.  Muir,  of  Bardstown,  Ky.,  donated  to  the  insti- 
tution an  outfit  of  gymnastic  apparatus  of  the  latest  and  most 
improved  designs,  while  other  friends  fitted  up  for  it  a  reading  room 
and  provided  it  with  current  literature.  Recently  there  have  been 
numerous  valuable  contributions  to  the  library.  In  the  summer  of 
1896,  through  the  liberality  of  one  of  its  warm  friends,  it  came  into 
possession  of  a  handsome  property  at  the  corner  of  First  street  and 
Broadway,  which  provides  a  chapel,  lecture  rooms,  and  additional 
rooms  for  students.  Its  endowment  had  also  been  added  to  until,  by 
this  time,  it  was  about  $200,000. 

No  material  changes  have  since  been  made  in  the  regular  course  of 
instruction  of  the  seminary  as  originally  outlined,  but  a  number  of 
advanced  optional  courses  have  recently  been  added.  All  the  nine 
schools  of  the  regular  course  must  be  completed  for  the  student  to 
obtain  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  divinity.  This  usually  requires 
three  years,  the  sessions  extending  from  the  1st  of  October  to  the  1st 
of  May  following.  The  regular  faculty  also  remains  as  at  first,  the 
instructor  in  music  attached  to  it  being  the  only  member  of  the  teach- 
ing force  who  has  been  changed.  There  have  been  only  two  changes 
in  the  personnel  of  the  board  of  directors,  which  still  consists  of  10 
members  from  each  of  the  synods  of  Kentucky  and  Missouri. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Minutes  of  the  sessions  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  at  Louisville,  March.  1893, 
and  at  Winchester,  October,  1893;  Louisville,  1893.  Other  sources  of  general 
information,  principally  catalogues. 


Chapter  VIII. 

EXTINCT  COLLEGES  OF  SOME  IMPORTANCE. 


BETHEL   ACADEMY,  JESSAMINE    COUNTY. 

As  already  noticed  in  treating  of  the  history  of  Kentucky  Wesleyan 
College  and  Union  College,  those  institutions,  as  well  as  Vanderbilt 
University,  in  a  sense,  are  the  present  representatives  of  the  early 
educational  efforts  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Kentucky, 
which  have  finally  found  expression  in  them  after  the  trial  of  several 
other  educational  experiments.  The  principal  institutions,  besides 
those  previously  described  in  other  connections,  established  in  Ken- 
tucky, either  by  the  church  as  a  whole  or  by  its  branches,  have  been 
Bethel  Academy,  Augusta  College,  and  Warren  College,  a  general 
view  of  each  of  which  will  be  given  here,  both  because  of  its  own 
importance  and  that  the  movement  just  referred  to  may  be  given  in 
all  of  its  general  outlines,  Warren  College  being  treated  out  of  its 
chronological  order  that  this  may  be  done. 

The  beginning  of  this  movement  and  the  second1  educational  insti- 
lion  established  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America  was 
Bethel  Academy.  It  has  been  claimed2  that  the  Methodists  were  the 
lirst  Christian  denomination  in  Kentucky  to  undertake  a  movement 
toward  the  establishment  of  an  institution  of  learning.  This  claim  is 
Dnly  true  if  it  has  reference  to  the  undertaking  of  such  an  enterprise 
Jn  a  distinctively  denominational  capacity,  as  the  date  given  for  the 
Inauguration  of  the  movement  to  establish  Bethel  Academy,  1790,  is 
|>rior  to  that  of  any  other  educational  enterprise  which  may  be  called 
denominational  in  the  State,  although  it  is  antedated  ten  years  by  the 
movement  to  establish  Transylvania  Seminary,  which  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  under  Presbyterian  auspices. 

Collins3  tells  us  that  when  Bishop  Asbury  first  visited  Kentucky,  in 
May,  1790,  and  held  the  first  annual  conference,  "a  plan  was  fixed  for 
a  school  called  Bethel  and  £300  in  land  and  money  subscribed  toward 
its  establishment."  The  academy  was  located  in  Jessamine  County, 

'The  first  was  Cokesbury  College,  at  Abingdon,  Md.,  planned  as  early  as  1784, 
but  not  opened  until  December,  1787.  It  was  chartered  on  December  26,  1794, 
about  the  time  of  Bethel's  first  incorporation.  (See  Steiner's  Higher  Education  in 
Maryland,  pp.  229-239.) 

2  Bedford's  Methodism.  Vol.  I,  p.  84. 

8  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  446. 
310 


EXTINCT    COLLEGES.  311 

on  a  high  bluff  of  the  Kentucky  River,1  on  a  tract  of  about  100  acres 
of  land  donated  to  it  by  Mr.  I.  Lewis.  Here,  in  a  fine  native  grove,  a 
brick  building,  quite  spacious  for  the  time,  being  80  feet  by  40  feet 
.and  three  stories  high,  was  erected,  and  although  never  completely 
finished  was  used  for  school  purposes  for  several  years. 

The  institution  was  under  the  control  of  the  Western  Methodist 
Conference,  whose  ministers  are  said  to  have  been  kept  poorer  than 
usual  for  several  years  by  having  to  beg  for  its  support  as  well  as  their 
own.  The  conference  often  met  in  the  academy  building,  many  of  its 
members  from  the  distant  settlements,  such  as  those  on  the  Holston 
River,  in  Tennessee,2  having  to  travel  to  its  sessions  for  several  days 
on  horseback  along  the  Indian  trails,  subsisting  on  the  way  upon 
biscuit,  broiled  bacon,  dried  beef,  and  tree  sugar. 

We  know  comparatively  little  of  Bethel  Academy  for  the  period  of 
about  twelve  years,  during  which  it  seems  to  have  been  in  active  oper- 
ation. Rev.  Francis  Poythress  was  mainly  instrumental  in  having 
its  building  erected,  and  he,  with  Col.  Thomas  Hinde,  Willis  Green, 
I.  Lewis,  Richard  Mastersen,  and  Isaac  Kite,  were  its  incorporators. 
It  was  first  incorporated  in  the  latter  part  of  1794,3  and  was  reincor- 
porated  by  an  act  of  February  10,  1798.4  By  this  act,  although  still 
remaining  under  denominational  control,  it  became  a  part  of  the  gen- 
eral academy  system,  and  received  from  the  State  a  donation  of  6,000 
acres  of  land.  This  put  it  upon  exactly  the  same  basis  as  Kentucky 
Academy,  the  Presbyterian  school,  was  at  the  time.  The  records  of 
the  conference 5  show  that  the  building  had  been  erected  in  April, 
1792,  and  that  the  school  was  probably  in  operation  at  that  time.  It 
was  certainly  in  operation  in  1794,  when  it  had  as  its  principal  John 
Metcalf,  who  remained  at  the  head  of  its  English  department  for  sev- 
eral years,  probably  until  1803. 

The  academy's  course  of  study  was  intended  especially  to  train 
ministers  for  the  church,  and  was  afterwards  of  a  high  classical  order; 
but  for  the  first  few  years  of  its  history  it  only  imparted  the  ele- 
ments of  a  good  English  education,  and  its  English  department  was 
always  one  of  its  prominent  features. 

In  1799  Rev.  Valentine  Cook,  one  of  the  famous  pioneer  Methodist 
ministers  of  the  State,  described  by  Collins6  as  "scholarly,  profound, 

1  Near  the  present  High  Bridge  on  the  Southern  Railway. 

'"'  The  conference  of  which  Kentucky  was  then  a  part  embraced  practically  all 
the  country  west  of  t  he  Alleghenies. 

sln  giving  this  date  as  that  of  the  first  incorporation  of  the  academy  several 
authorities  have  been  followed,  but  since  the  act  can  not  be  found  in  several  collec- 
tions which  have  been  carefully  examined  and  are  otherwise  quite  complete,  it 
appears  quite  probable  that  no  regular  legislative  incorporation  occurred  at  this 
time. 

4 For  references  to  this  act,  see  Chapter  II. 

5  Given  in  Alexander's  Earliest  Western  Schools  of  Methodism,  pp.  363-364. 

6 History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  451.  A  sketch  of  Mr.  Cook  is  also  given  in 
Spr ague's  Annals,  Vol.  VII,  p.  153. 


312  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

masterly  in  an  argument,  and  overwhelming  in  the  enforcement  of 
the  great  truths  of  Christianity,"  became  connected  with  the  acad- 
emy as  the  head  of  its  higher  or  classical  department,  then  first  organ- 
ized. Mr.  Cook  was  the  most  distinguished  graduate  of  Cokesbury 
College,  Maryland,  and  was  noted  as  a  teacher  as  well  as  preacher. 
He,  however,  only  remained  at  Bethel  for  one  year.  In  1803  a  new 
charter  was  secured  for  the  institution,  conferring  upon  it  the  full 
powers  and  privileges  of  a  literary  institution,  which  its  other  acts  of 
incorporation  had,  it  appears,  not  bestowed  upon  it. 

We  are  not  informed  of  the  exact  number  of  students  in  attend- 
ance upon  the  academy,  but  are  told  that  there  were  a  considerable 
number,  especially  during  the  presidency  of  Rev.  Valentine  Cook. 
The  conference  regulations  over  the  students,  especially,  we  presume, 
over  those  preparing  for  the  ministry,  were  very  strict  and  would  be 
considered  quite  an  anomaly  nowadays.  They  were  compelled  to  rise 
at  5  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  retire  at  9  o'clock  at  night,  while  no 
games  of  any  kind  were  allowed,  and  idleness  was  punished  by  con- 
finement in  a  room  constructed  especially  for  that  purpose. 

The  institution  seems  to  have  been  fairly  prosperous  for  a  time, 
but  the  poverty  of  the  church,  combined  with  the  unsettled  state  of 
the  country,  due  to  Indian  hostilities  and  its  own  rather  inaccessible 
position,  caused  its  attendance  to  decline  and  resulted  in  its  practical 
abandonment  by  the  conference  about  1804.  Its  building  was  after- 
wards used  for  a  time  for  a  neighborhood  school,  but  was  finally  dis- 
mantled, a  portion  of  it  being  used  to  construct  an  academy  building 
in  Nicholasville. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Collins's  and  Smith's  History;  acts  of  the  legislature;  Sprague's  Annals;  Red- 
ford's  Methodism  in  Kentucky. 

A  few  facts  have  been  taken  from  Earliest  Western  Schools  of  Methodism,  by 
Gross  Alexander,  S.  T.  D.,  Nashville,  1897. 

AUGUSTA  COLLEGE,  AUGUSTA. 

Although  the  Methodists  of  the  West  had  been  compelled  by  the 
force  of  circumstances  to  abandon  Bethel  Academy  as  a  denomina- 
tional institution,  yet  the  idea  of  a  Methodist  college  for  that  section 
had  not  been  given  up  by  the  church  and  soon  took  definite  shape  in 
the  foundation  of  Augusta  College. 

When  the  Kentucky  conference  held  its  first  session  at  Lexington, 
in  September,  1821,  one  of  the  most  prominent  questions  before  it  was 
the  establishment  of  an  institution  of  learning  for  the  church.  The 
Ohio  conference  had  a  few  days  before  appointed  a  commission  to 
prepare  the  foundation  of  a  college  under  the  joint  control  of  the  two 
bodies.  This  plan  was  approved  by  Kentucky  conference,  and  com- 
missioners1 were  appointed  by  it  to  act  in  conjunction  with  those 
already  appointed  by  Ohio  conference  in  inaugurating  the  enterprise. 

1  For  the  names  of  the  \  commissioners  from  the  two  conferences,  see  Alexan- 
der's Western  Schools  of  Methodism,  p.  367. 


EXTINCT    COLLEGES.  313 

These  commissioners,  by  agreement,  met  on  the  loth  of  the  following 
December,  at  Augusta,  Ky.,  in  a  conference  with  the  trustees  of 
Bracken  Academy,  an  institution  established  in  that  town  and  given 
an  endowment  of  6,000  acres  of  land  by  the  State  legislature  in  1798. 
An  arrangement  was  then  made,  whereby  the  proposed  new  college  was 
to  have  the  use  of  the  funds  arising  from  the  sale  of  the  acadenw 
lands,  amounting  to  about  $10,000,  and  was  to  be  assisted  by  the  lat- 
ter1 s  trustees  in  securing  suitable  ground  and  buildings.  Consider- 
able donations  for  this  last  purpose  were  also  obtained  from  other 
local  friends  of  the  enterprise,  especially  Mr.  James  Armstrong.  By 
reason  of  these  inducements  the  commissioners  located  the  college  at 
Augusta,  which  was  also  otherwise  desirable  on  account  of  its  being 
somewhat  centrally  located  with  reference  to  the  two  conferences. 

The  aims  of  the  church  were  now  more  ambitious  than  in  the  case 
of  the  inauguration  of  Bethel  Academy,  and  so  a  regular  college 
charter  was  obtained  for  the  new  enterprise  from  the  Kentucky  legis- 
lature on  December  7,  1822, 1  which  declared  that  "  said  seminary  of 
learning  shall  be  conducted  on  free,  liberal,  and  enlightened  princi- 
ples," and  placed  it  under  the  control  of  a  self -perpetuating  board  of 
twenty-three  trustees,  twenty  of  whom  were  from  Ohio  and  Kentucky 
conferences,  while  the  other  three  were  the  trustees  of  Bracken  Acad- 
emy. The  funds  of  Bracken  Academy  were  also  transferred  by  the 
instrument  to  the  new  institution,  whose  trustees  were  empowered  to 
admit  students  free  of  tuition  and  whose  property  was  exempted  from 
taxation.  Thus  was  chartered  the  third 2  Methodist  college,  at  least 
under  the  name  of  college,  in  America,  and  one  which  was  for  a  time 
the  only  real  Methodist  college  in  operation 3  in  the  world. 

While  Augusta  bore  the  name  of  college  from  the  beginning,  it  was 
really  an  academy4  for  the  first  three  years  of  its  existence.  By  the 
appointment  of  Conference  in  1822  John  P.  Finley  became  the  first 
president  of  the  institution,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  that  year  he 
opened  its  preparatory  department,  although  its  building  was  not 
entirely  completed  until  October,  1823.  This  building  was  an  excel- 
lent one  for  the  time,  and  was  a  brick  structure  80  feet  by  42  feet  and 
three  stories  in  height.  In  1825  Rev.  J.  S.  Tomlinson,  who  had  just- 
graduated  from  Transylvania  University  and  was  later  to  become  a 
doctor  of  divinity  in  his  church  and  to  remain  connected  with  the 
institution  for  the  most  part  during  the  remainder  of  its  history, 
became  a  member  of  the  college  faculty,  as  professor  of  mathematics 


'Acts  of  1822-23,  pp.  163-171. 

2  It  was  only  antedated  by  Cokesbury  (1787)   and  Asbury  (1816)   colleges,  in 
Maryland. 

3  Cokesbury  College  went  out  of  existence  in  1796,  and  Asbury  College,  while  it 
may  have  had  a  formal  existence  until  about  1830,  did  not  amount  to  anything 
after  1818,  and  Wesleyan  University,  Connecticut,  did  not  originate  until  1831. 
Madison  College,  Uniontown,  Pa.,  had  a  desultory  existence  from  1827  to  1832. 

4  Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education,  vol.  27,  p.  335. 


314  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

and  natural  philosophy,  and  shortly  afterwards  John  P.  Durbin,  A.  M., 
became  professor  of  Latin  and  Greek. 

In  1827 l  Rev.  Martin  Ruter,  D.  D.,  became  president  of  the  college, 
a  position  which  he  retained  until  1832.  College  classes  seem  to  have 
been  organized  at  the  time  of  the  accession  of  Professor  Tomlinson  to 
the  facultjT,  as  the  first  class  was  graduated  in  1829.  This  class,  con- 
tained 4  members.  In  1831  Professor  Durbin,  who  had  resigned,  was 
succeeded  by  Rev.  B.  H.  McCown,  A.  M.,  a  graduate  of  St.  Joseph's 
College,  Kentucky,  who  was  a  noted  professor  at  Augusta  for  eleven 
years  and  afterwards  at  Transylvania  University  for  several  years. 

Upon  the  resignation  of  President  Ruter,  in  1832,  Bev.  Joseph  S. 
Tomlinson, 2D.  D.,  already  mentioned  as  an  early  professor  in  the 
college,  became  his  successor  in  the  presidency,  an  office  which  was 
held  by  him  throughout  the  future  history  of  the  college,3  except  for 
short  intervals  when  he  was  relieved  of  its  duties  on  account  of  bad 
health.  At  the  opening  of  his  administration,  Rev.  H.  B.  Bascom, 
afterwards  so  prominently  connected  with  Transylvania  University, 
became  a  member  of  the  Augusta  faculty,  as  professor  of  moral  science 
and  belles-lettres,  thus  constituting  a  strong  faculty,  which,  in  1833,4 
was  composed  as  follows:  Rev.  J.  S.  Tomlinson,  A.  M.,  president  and 
professor  of  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy;  Rev.  H.  B.  Bascom, 
A.  M.,  professor  of  moral  science  and  belles-lettres;  Rev.  B.  H.  Mc- 
Cown, A.  M.,  professor  of  languages;  Fred.  A.  W.  Davis,  M.  D.,  pro- 
fessor of  chemistry  and  botany;  Solomon  Howard,  assistant  in 
academic  department ;  John  Vincent,  teacher  of  primarj7  school. 

President  Tomlinson  was  a  versatile  teacher  and  was  often  known 
to  discharge  the  duties  of  many  different  departments,  while  Pro- 
fessor Bascom  was  noted  for  both  energy  and  ability.  The  latter  at 
once  became  prominent  in  the  affairs  of  the  institution,  although  he 
would  never  accept  its  presidency,  which,  we  are  informed,5  was  sev- 
eral times  offered  to  him.  As  the  agent  of  the  two  patronizing  con- 
ferences, about  1837,  he  raised  $10,000  in  each  of  them  toward  the 
endowment  of  the  college.  These,  together  with  other  funds  of  the 
institution,  seem,  however,  to  have  been  soon  afterwards  lost  by  the 
mismanagement  of  its  authorities.  It  was  also  soon  hampered  in  its 
usefulness  by  differences  which  sprang  up  between  the  two  confer- 
ences, especially  in  regard  to  slavery.  These  led,  before  long,  to  the 
practical  withdrawal  of  the  Ohio  Conference  from  patronizing  Augusta, 
because  of  its  being  in  a  slave  State,  and  later  to  the  establishment 

1  This  date  is  given  as  1828  in  the  sketch  of  Dr.  Ruter  in  Sprague's  Annals,  Vol. 
VII,  pp.  327,  329,  but  the  date  in  the  text  seems  best  authenticated. 

2  Dr.   Tomlinson 's    connection  with  Augusta  has    been   taken    mainly  from 
Sprague's  Annals,  Vol.  VII,  pp.  706-707. 

3  According  to  the  American  Almanac,  Nathan  Bangs,  D.  D.,  was  president  of 
Augusta  in  1835. 

4  From  the  American  Almanac  for  1834. 

5  By  his  biographer,  Rev.  M.  M.  Henkle,  in  his  Life  of  Bascom. 


EXTINCT    COLLEGES.  315 

by  that  bocty  first  of  academies  in  its  own  midst  and  then  of  a  college 
of  its  own  in  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  which  iiecessarity  became 
a  rival  institution. 

This  state  of  affairs  led  Dr.  Bascom  and  other  friends  of  Augusta 
to  lose  hope  in  its  success,  and  when  the  proposition  came  from  the 
trustees  of  Transylvania  University  bo  turn  over  its  academic  depart- 
ment with  all  its  funds  and  equipments  to  the  church,  they  thought 
it  wise  and  right  to  accept  this  offer,  which  they  considered  to  have 
in  it  much  greater  prospects  of  advantage  to  the  church  than  were 
likely  to  be  realized  from  Augusta.  Many  friends  of  the  latter,  how- 
ever, did  not  hold  this  view  and  resisted  the  proposed  change.  After 
this  was  carried  out  the  college,  although  practically  abandoned  by 
the  church  as  a  whole,  and  still  further  weakened  as  was  the  univer- 
sity also  by  the  divisions  soon  to  begin  in  that  body,  was  able  to  main- 
tain itself  in  a  decaying  condition  for  several  years,  indeed  as  long  as 
the  new  Transylvania  University  experiment,  as  its  charter  was 
repealed  in  1849,  the  year  in  which  Dr.  Bascom  gave  up  Transylvania 
as  an  unprofitable  undertaking. 

The  repeal  of  the  charter  of  the  college  was  probably  due  to  the 
conviction  of  the  local  community  that  its  property  would  be  of  greater 
educational  utility  in  the  hands  of  the  trustees  of  old  Bracken  Acad- 
emy, to  whom  it  reverted  upon  the  withdrawal  of  its  charter,  than  it 
was  on  its  denominational  basis.  These  trustees  leased  the  property 
for  a  number  of  years  to  various  teachers  who  conducted  it  as  a  high 
school  or  academy.  Under  this  plan  it  was  leased  from  1879  to  1887 
to  Rev.  Daniel  Stevenson,  D.  D.,  who  operated  it  as  a  collegiate  insti- 
tute for  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  thus  in  a  sense  returning 
it  to  its  original  denominational  connection,  but  without  the  same 
conditions  as  to  property  rights.  When  Dr.  Stevenson  gave  it  up  to 
establish  Union  College*  for  his  church  it  was  made  a  part  of  the  public 
school  system  of  the  town  of  Augusta.  Quite  recentty1  its  building, 
which  had  been  burned  on  January  29,  1852, 2  and  been  replaced  by  a 
plainer  one,  was  demolished  to  make  way  for  a  modern  public  school 
building. 

During  the  quarter  of  a  century  that  the  college  was  in  operation 
in  its  best  estate  it  maintained  a  high-grade  classical  curriculum  and 
had  in  its  faculty  several  able  and  prominent  professors,  particularly 
Dr.  Bascom  and  Professor  McCown ;  it  had  for  the  time  an  excellent 
building  and  a  good  equipment,  having  a  library  which  at  one  period 
contained  2,500  volumes.  The  institution  was  never  properly 
endowed  and  had  to  depend  largely  for  its  support  on  tuition  fees, 
but,  notwithstanding  discouragements  and  embarrassments,  was  able 
for  a  time  to  make  good  progress  and  to  fill  an  excellent  educational 
sphere.  In  its  most  prosperous  days  it  had  from  100  to  150  students 


1  Alexander's  Earliest  Western  Schools  of  Methodism,  p.  371. 
-Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  64. 


31  fi  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

annually,  and  sent  forth  a  number  of  graduates  who  afterwards 
became  distinguished.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  Hon.  William 
S.  Groesbeck,  Hon.  W.  H.  Wadsworth,  Hon.  E.  C.  Phisten,  Rev. 
George  S.  Savage,  M.  D.,  Bishop  Randolph  S.  Foster,  and  Rev.  John 
Miley,  I).  D.,  who  with  many  others  have  occupied  high  positions  in 
church  and  state.  Dr.  Redford1  speaks  of  the  services  of  the  institu- 
tion as  follows: 

Under  all  the  embarrassments  to  which  such  enterprises  are  exposed,  the  vast 
amount  of  good  that  resulted  to  the  church  and  the  country  from  Augusta  College 
can  never  be  estimated.  Over  its  fortunes  some  of  the  noblest  intellects  have  pre- 
sided; its  faculty  was  always  composed  of  men  of  piety,  of  genius,  and  of  learn- 
ing; and  in  all  the  learned  professions  in  almost  every  Western  and  Southern  State 
its  alumni  may  yet  [1870]  be  found.  It  gave  to  the  medical  profession,  to  the 
bar,  and  to  the  pulpit  many  of  their  brightest  lights. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Collins's  and  Smith's  History. 

Acts  of  the  legislature. 

The  Gospel  Herald  for  November  30,  1830. 

A  communication  from  the  Kentucky  Conference  Commissioners  in  reply  to  a 
memorial  from  the  trustees  of  Augusta  College. 

Bedford's  Methodism  in  Kentucky. 

Sprague's  Annals. 

Barnard's  American  Journal. 

The  American  Almanac. 

A  small  amount  of  additional  information  has  also  been  obtained  from  Alexan- 
der's Earliest  Western  Schools  of  Methodism. 

WARREN   COLLEGE,    BOWLING   GREEN. 

This  institution  represented,  until  comparatively  recent  years,  the 
efforts  of  Louisville  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
South  in  Kentucky  to  establish  in  its  midst  an  institution  of  higher 
education  after  it  and  Kentucky  Conference2  had  withdrawn,  in  1850, 
from  the  joint  control  of  Transylvania  University. 

Louisville  Conference  was  little  behind  her  sister  conference  in 
attempting  to  supply  her  educational  needs,  as,  while  the  latter  began 
in  1858  to  lay  the  foundations  of  Kentucky  Wesleyan  College  at  Millers- 
burg,  the  former,  at  its  session  at  Bardstown  in  1859,  appointed  10 
commissioners  to  take  steps  to  establish  a  similar  institution  at  Bowling 
Green. 

These  commissioners,  acting  under  the  authority  given  to  them  by 
the  conference,  soon  secured  the  transfer  of  the  charter  of  the  South- 
ern College  of  Kentucky,  an  institution  chartered  at  Bowling  Green 
in  1819  and  having  a  desultory  existence  there  for  several  years  but 


'Methodism  in  Kentucky,  vol.  3,  pp.  100-101. 

-These  two  conferences  are  separated  by  a  line  running  in  general  north  and 
south  just  east  of  Louisville,  Kentucky  Conference  being  east  of  this  line,  and 
Louisville  Conference  west. 


EXTINCT    COLLEGES.  317 

long  since  suspended.  I'  still,  however,  possessed  property  and  funds 
amounting  to  about  $17,000,  and  the  terms  of  its  charter  were  full  and 
liberal.  The  income  from  its  funds  was  secured  for  the  conference, 
and  under  the  provisions  of  its  charter  the  commissioners  proceeded 
to  organize  a  new  institution,  for  which,  by  the  autumn  of  1860,  they 
had  laid  the  foundations  of  a  fine  new  building  to  cost  about  $30,000. 
The  advent  of  the  civil  war,  however,  soon  after  caused  them  to  have 
to  abandon  for  several  years  the  erection  of  this  building,  and  indeed 
the  whole  enterprise,  which  was  never  revived  on  the  same  basis. 

A  new  charter  was  obtained  from  the  legislature  in  1866  under  the 
name  of  Warren  College,  and  in  1867  a  board  of  education  was  incor- 
porated to  cooperate  with  the  trustees  of  this  college,  seven  in  number, 
in  securing  funds  for  its  endowment,  the  sale  of  the  former  site  of  the 
institution  having  been  authorized  in  the  latter  year.  Several  agents 
of  the  board  of  education,  chiefly  Rev.  J.  F.  Redford,  secured,  within 
the  next  three  years,  cash  and  subscriptions  amounting  to  about 
$24,000,  for  the  endowment  of  the  proposed  college,  for  which  the 
property  now  occupied  by  Ogden  College,  then  a  large  and  handsome 
private  residence,  was  purchased  and  improved  in  such  a  way  as  to 
become  well  adapted  to  educational  purposes. 

A  preparatory  school,  which  had  been  conducted  in  a  rented  build- 
ing since  1866  by  Prof.  S.  T.  Scott,  was,  in  February,  1872,  transferred 
to  the  new  building,  Prof.  G.  B.  Doggett  becoming  its  principal  at 
the  latter  date.  In  the  autumn  of  1872  the  college  proper  was  organ- 
ized. It  opened  its  doors  on  September  5,  1872, *  and  had  as  its  first 
president,  and  indeed  its  only  one,  Rev.  J.  G.  Wilson,  D.  D.  Dr. 
Wilson  was  assisted  the  first  year,  at  the  beginning  of  which  80 
students  were  enrolled,  by  Professor  Doggett  and  Wilbur  F.  Bar- 
clay, A.  B. 

By  this  time  the  pledged  endowment  of  the  institution  had  reached 
about  $30,000,  of  which  only  about  $11,000,  however,  seems  ever  to 
have  been  paid  in,  with  the  aid  of  the  income  from  which  an  addi- 
tional professor,  Rev.  Gross  Alexander,  S.  T.  D.,  now  of  the  theo- 
logical department  of  Vanderbilt  University,  was  employed  in  1873. 
An  excellent  faculty  of  four  members  was  maintained  by  the  college 
and  a  good  educational  work  done  by  it  for  the  next  three  years,  but 
the  opening  of  Vanderbilt  University  on  the  one  hand  and  the  pro- 
posed early  establishment  in  Bowling  Green,  according  to  the  terms 
of  the  will  of  its  donor,  of  Ogden  College,  an  institution  which  was 
more  largely  endowed  and  would  offer  practically  free  tuition,  caused 
the  board  of  trustees  of  Warren  College  in  1876  to  decide  to  close  that 
institution  whose  work  was  already  much  crippled  for  lack  of  endow- 
ment and  whose  field  in  the  future  would  necessarily  be  largely  occu- 
pied by  the  institution  just  mentioned.  The  work  of  the  college  was 
therefore  in  that  year  finally  discontinued.  Its  property  was  rented 


Collinss  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  231. 


318  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

the  next  year  to  the  trustees  of  Ogderi  College,  by  whom  it  was  not 
long  afterwards  purchased. 

In  1880,  the  income  from  the  endowment  fund  of  the  board  of 
education,  which  had  gone  to  the  aid  of  Warren  College  during  its 
existence,  was  set  apart  by  the  conference  to  assist  its  theological 
students  in  Vanderbilt  University.  This  arrangement  led  to  a  very 
wise  step  in  1884  whereby,  instead  of  attempting  to  establish  for  itself 
a  new  college,  the  conference  adopted  the  university  as  its  educational 
institution,  arid  was  given  in  return  a  representation  of  two  members 
in  the  latter's  board  of  trust,  the  conference  being  admitted  as  one  of 
the  eight "  patronizing  conferences"  whose  representatives  control  the 
university.  Thus  the  Louisville  Conference  has  become  joint  owner 
of  one  of  the  greatest  universities  in  the  South,  and  has  no  real  need 
for  an  additional  institution  for  higher  education.  The  conference  has, 
since  1884,  taken  further  steps  to  supply  its  educational  needs.  These 
have  very  properly  taken  the  form,  not  of  establishing  another  college, 
but  of  a  training  school,  known  as  the  Vanderbilt  Training  School, 
which  was  located  at  Elktoii,  Ky.,  in  1892,  and  is  intended  to  furnish 
proper  preparation  for  the  lower  classes  of  Vanderbilt  University, 
and  also  to  give  the  elements  of  a  good  English  education  to  those 
who  have  not  the  desire  or  opportunity  to  pursue  a  college  course. 
The  school  has  an  excellent  equipment  in  the  way  of  buildings  and 
apparatus  and  has  been  doing  a  good  work.  Prof.  R.  E.  Crockett  has 
been  its  efficient  principal  since  its  establishment. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

This  sketch  is  based  almost  entirely  on  Alexander's  History  of  Education  in  the 
Louisville  Conference,  with  some  information  from  Collins's  History  and  Hender- 
son's Centennial  Exhibit. 

ST.  JOSEPH'S  COLLEGE,  BARDSTOWN. 

St.  Joseph's  College  is  worthy  of  a  place  in  this  monograph,  both 
because  of  its  own  importance,  having  been  long  one  of  the  principal 
colleges  of  the  State,  and  also  because  its  history,  in  a  sense,  still 
continues  in  that  of  St.  Mary's  College,  which  has  been  made  its  suc- 
cessor. It  was  also  the  first  college  established  in  Kentucky  by  the 
Roman  Catholics,  and  was  one  of  the  earliest  denominational  institu- 
tions in  the  State. 

The  Catholic  church  early  established  in  Kentucky  a  seminary1  fur 
the  education  of  its  priests.  This  was,  after  a  time,  removed  to  Bards- 
town,  then  one  of  the  most  flourishing  towns  in  the  State  and,  as  the 


^his  seminary  was  organized  in  1811  on  the  Ohio  River  in  the  boat  which 
brought  Bishop  Flaget  to  the  State.  It  was  conducted  at  St.  Stephen's  (Loretto) 
for  a  few  months,  but  was  moved  in  November,  1811.  to  St.  Thomas,  near  Bards- 
town.  It  was  moved  to  Bardstown  on  April  21,  1819.  It  was  continued  at  Bards- 
town,  St.  Marys.  St.  Thomas,  and  Louisville  until  quite  recently,  when  it  was 
discontinued  in  favor  of  the  larger  seminaries  of  the  church. 


EXTINCT    COLLEGES.  319 

cathedral  town,  the  center,  as  it  remained  for  some  time,  of  Catholic 
influence  in  Kentucky  and  the  West.  In  the  basement  of  the  build- 
ing of  this  seminary  was  opened,  near  the  close  of  1819,  a  day  school, 
from  which,  as  an  humble  beginning,  soon  sprang  St.  Joseph's  Col- 
lege, the  first  Roman  Catholic  institution  in  the  State  for  the  higher 
education  of  young  men.  The  school  was  maintained  in  the  seminary 
building  for  about  a  year. 

The  one  mainly  instrumental  in  establishing  this  school  and  the 
president  of  the  college  for  some  time  was  Rev.  G.  A.  M.  Elder,  who 
was  born  in  Kentucky  in  1793,  and  at  the  time  of  the  establishment 
of  the  school  had  just  finished  his  studies  for  the  priesthood  at  Emmits- 
burg  and  Baltimore,  Md.  Just  after  his  ordination1  at  Bardstown  in 
the  latter  part  of  1819,  he  received  from  Bishop  Flaget,  the  pioneer 
Catholic  bishop  of  the  West,  the  commission  to  establish  the  school 
just  referred  to,  the  foundation  of  which  had  been  long  desired  by 
the  bishop,  who  had  previously,  however,  not  had  the  clergy  to  spare 
from  other  more  pressing  church  enterprises  for  its  proper  supervision. 

Father  Elder's  ability,  combined  with  his  amiability,  made  him 
popular  with  his  students,  and  under  his  careful  management  the 
school  soon  grew  in  numbers.  Largely  from  the  proceeds  of  tuition, 
at  first  partly  anticipated,  a  building  was  soon  erected  for  it,  and  a 
boarding  department  added.  The  south  wing  of  this  building  was 
completed  at  the  close  of  1820  and  the  school  moved  from  the  seminary 
at  that  time.  The  north  wing  was  erected  in  1823  and  the  front  soon 
afterwards,2  the  whole  costing  about  $20,000  and  constituting  one  of 
the  largest  and  best  appointed  educational  buildings  in  the  West  at 
that  time.  Pupils  then  came  in  large  numbers,  about  50  being  brought 
at  one  time,  in  1825,  from  a  Louisiana  college  by  Rev.  M.  Martial. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  a  large  patronage,  which  was  long  retained, 
from  the  South,  especially  from  Louisiana  and  Mississippi. 

The  increasing  attendance  had  caused  Father  Elder  and  other 
friends  of  the  enterprise  to  become  more  ambitious  in  its  behalf.  So, 
on  December  27,  1824, 3  a  charter  was  obtained  from  the  State  legisla- 
ture conferring  upon  it  full  collegiate  powers  and  privileges,  under 
the  name  of  St.  Joseph's  College.  It  was  by  this  instrument  placed 
under  the  control  of  six  trustees,  of  whom  the  bishop  of  the  diocese 
was  the  moderator  or  chairman. 

Father  Elder  became  the  first  president  of  the  new  college,  whose 
course,  early  in  its  history,  became  a  high-grade,  classical  one,  in  com- 
parison with  similar  institutions  throughout  the  country.  At  his  own 
request,  Father  Elder  was  relieved  from  its  presidency  from  1827  to 


1  This,  as  noted  in  connection  with  the  history  of  St.  Mary's,  occurred  at  the  same 
time  as  that  of  Father  Byrne,  the  founder  of  that  institution. 

-Niles's  Register,  vol.  28,  p.  416  (August  27, 1825) ,  says  the  college  has  nearly  fin- 
ished a  new  brick  building,  four  stories  high  and  120  feet  long,  and  that  it  is  in  a  very 
prosperous  condition,  having  20U  students. 

:iActs  of  1824-25,  pp.  65-68, 


320  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

1830,  during  which  time  the  duties  of  the  office  were  ably  discharged 
by  Rev.  I.  N.  Reynolds,  subsequently  bishop  of  Charleston,  but  in 
the  latter  year  the  first  president  resumed  his  former  position  and 
unselfishly  devoted  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  the  further  building 
up  of  the  college.  On  January  25,  1838,  the  institution  suffered 
the  misfortune  of  losing  its  main  building  by  fire,  and  eight  months 
afterwards  suffered  the  additional  loss  of  its  faithful  president  and 
founder,  whose  death  was  largely  brought  about  from  overexertion  at 
the  time  of  the  fire.  The  building  was  soon  reerected,  but  the  result 
of  the  fire  long  remained  in  the  shape  of  debt,  which  hung  heavily  over 
the  diocese  for  a  number  of  years. 

By  the  end  of  Father  Elder's  administration,  St.  Joseph's  was  recog- 
nized as  one  of  the  first  literary  institutions  of  Kentucky  and  the 
South  generally.  It  had  annually,  during  this  period,  from  100  to  250 
students,  and  soon  began  to  send  out  good-sized  graduating  classes 
for  the  time,  the  class  of  1833  numbering  eight  members. 

Father  Elder  was  succeeded  in  the  presidency  of  the  college  by  Rev. 
M.  J.  Spalding,1  then  quite  a  young  man,  but  destined  later  to  become 
a  very  prominent  figure  in  his  church.  lie  remained  at  the  head  of 
St.  Joseph's  for  two  years,  becoming  afterwards  bishop  of  Kentucky, 
and  later  the  seventh  archbishop  of  Baltimore. 

He  was  succeeded  in  1840  in  the  presidency  of  St.  Joseph's  by  Rev. 
J.  M.  Lancaster,  who  was  in  turn  succeeded  by  Rev.  Edward  McMa- 
hon,  the  combined  administrations  of  these  two  presidents  extending 
to  1848.  Under  their  excellent  and  careful  management  the  college 
continued  to  prosper.  Collins  tells  us  in  his  Sketches2  that  it  had 
150  students  in  1847,  during  the  administration  of  Father  McMahon. 
It  had  then  a  faculty  of  four  professors,  besides  the  president,  and  a 
library  of  5,000  volumes.  The  faculty  had  been  making  self-denying 
efforts  to  pay  off  the  debt  weighing  on  the  institution,  of  which 
$23,000  still  remained  in  1848.  For  a  number  of  years  they  had  each 
received  from  $75  to  $150  a  year  for  their  services.  We  are  informed3 
that  up  to  about  the  end  of  Father  McMahon's  administration  about 
6,000  young  men,  coming  from  nearly  all  of  the  States  in  the  South  and 
West,  had  spent  at  least  a  year  in  study  at  St.  Joseph's.  Between 
1823  and  1848  the  college  had  sent  forth  many  graduates  who  after- 
wards became  distinguished  in  the  different  professions.  During  this 

Archbishop  Spalding  was  born  in  Kentucky  in  1810,  and  graduated  at  St.  Mary's 
when  16  years  old,  having  been  a  professor  there  at  14  years  of  age.  He  then 
studied  theology  at  Bardstown  and  Rome  until  1834,  and  was  then  pastor,  editor, 
and  president  of  St.  Joseph's  for  several  years.  He  became  bishop  of  Kentucky  in 
1850  and  archbishop  of  Baltimore  in  1864.  He  died  in  1872  greatly  beloved  and 
admired.  More  complete  sketches  of  his  life  are  to  be  found  in  Smith's  History  of 
Kentucky,  p.  555,  and  Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I,  p.  490. 

2  Sketches  of  Kentucky,  p.  475. 

3Spalding's  Sketches  of  Bishop  Flaget,  p.  299. 


EXTINCT    COLLEGES.  321 

portion  of  its  history  the  institution  was  conducted  by  the  secular 
clergy  of  the  church,  and  was  for  most  of  the  time  operated  in  close 
connection  with  the  diocesan  seminary. 

In  June,  1848, 1  the  Jesuits  of  the  province  of  Missouri,  at  the  solic- 
itation of  Bishop  Flaget,  who  was  always  much  inclined  toward  their 
order  as  a  teaching  organization,  and  had  offered  to  them  the  control 
of  the  college  in  1829,  just  prior  to  their  assuming  the  administration 
of  St.  Mary's  College,  took  charge  of  St.  Joseph's,  which  was  opened 
under  their  management  in  the  following  September,  with  Rev.  Peter 
J.  Yerhaegen,  formerly  president  of  the  University  of  St.  Louis,  as 
its  new  president.  There  was  a  fair  showing  of  students  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  new  administration,  and  their  numbers  increased  during 
the  first  session.  The  college  afterwards  had  numerous  students,  par- 
ticularly from  the  South,  and  was  uninterruptedly  prosperous  until 
closed  by  the  civil  war  in  1861. 

The  other  presidents  during  the  period  of  Jesuit  control,  besides 
Father  Verhaegen,  who  remained  at  the  head  of  the  institution  for 
three  years,  were  Fathers  Emig,  D'Hoop,  Copsemans,  and  de  Bluck. 

In  1852,  during  the  administration  of  Father  Emig,  a  large  addi- 
tional building,  to  be  used  as  an  infirmary  and  for  class-room  pur- 
poses, as  well  as  to  furnish  splendid  quarters  for  the  college  museum, 
was  erected.  A  number  of  other  additions  and  improvements  to 
buildings  and  grounds  were  also  made  during  this  period,  and  the  old 
college  debt  was  finalty  fully  expunged.  The  institution  had  con- 
tinued to  grow  in  public  favor,  but  in  1861  its  buildings  were  seized 
and  occupied  for  some  time  by  the  Federal  authorities  for  hospital 
purposes,  and  its  exercises  were  not  resumed  for  several  years.  The 
college  was  never  reopened  by  the  Jesuits,  who,  in  1868,  owing  to  a 
misunderstanding  with  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  in  regard  to  a  new 
college  which  they  were  proposing  to  establish  in  Louisville,  gave  up 
the  management  of  St.  Joseph's  and  withdrew  from  the  State.  The 
college  property  had  only  been  held  in  trust  by  them,  and  upon  their 
departure  was  transferred  to  the  bishop  free  from  the  old  debt  which 
they  had  liquidated.  It  reverted  to  its  former  plan  of  management 
and  was  placed  under  the  direction  of  the  secular  clergy. 

From  1869  to  1872  the  buildings  were  occupied  by  the  preparatory 
Theological  Seminary  from  St.  Thomas,  with  Rev.  P.  de  Fraine  as 
superior.  In  1872  a  limited  number  of  students,  besides  those  study- 
ing for  the  priesthood,  were  again  admitted,  and  Rev.  M.  M.  Coghlan 
became  president  and  remained  at  the  head  of  the  institution  until 
his  death  in  March,  1877.  In  September,  1877,  Rev.  W.  J.  Dunn 
became  his  successor  and  was  in  turn  succeeded  by  Rev.  C.  J.  O'Con- 
nell  at  the  end  of  the  next  year.  During  this  period  of  the  college's 
history  no  regular  degrees  were  conferred,  but  there  were  two  regular 

1  This  date  is  given  in  Maes's  Life  of  Nerinckx,  p.  476,  as  July,  1848. 
2127— No.  25 21 


322  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

courses  maintained — the  classical  for  the  ministry  and  learned  profes- 
sions generally,  and  the  commercial  for  mercantile  pursuits. 

At  the  beginning  of  Father  O'Connell's  administration  the  privi- 
leges of  the  institution  were  fully  opened  to  all  young  men  who  were 
properly  prepared,  and  when,  in  1880,  Rev.  W.  P.  Mackin  became 
president  the  A.  B.  degree  was  restored  and  a  scientific  course  also 
instituted.  The  college  had  at  that  time  a  good  library  and  extensive 
scientific  apparatus,  and  was  well  prepared  to  supply  the  educational 
needs  of  the  time.  Its  faculty  between  1873  and  1885  contained  from 
5  to  7  members,  and  its  students  varied  in  number  from  76  to  108. 

During  the  later  portion  of  the  institution's  history  it  had  been 
under  the  charge  of  the  secular  clergy  of  the  diocese,  while  St.  Mary's 
College,  the  other  male  college  of  the  church  in  Kentucky,  was  being 
conducted  by  the  Fathers  of  the  Resurrection,  a  strong  and  well- 
organized  teaching  order.  As  both  of  .these  institutions  necessarily 
drew  their  students  largely  from  the  same  territory,  the  competition 
of  each  was  a  considerable  hindrance  to  the  other,  so,  in  August, 
1890,  the  bishop  of  Louisville,  thinking  it  wise  to  concentrate  the 
educational  efforts  of  the  church  in  one  institution,  which  might  thus 
be  better  equipped  and  in  every  way  more  efficient,  caused  St.  Joseph's 
to  be  closed  and  St.  Mary's  made  the  official  college  of  the  diocese  as 
the  successor  of  both  institutions.  So  while  St.  Joseph's  has  ceased 
to  exist  as  a  separate  institution,  it  yet,  in  a  sense,  lives  in  St.  Mary's. 
The  buildings  of  St.  Joseph's  since  it  was  suspended  have  been  used 
as  one  of  the  male  orphanages  of  the  diocese.  The  college  has  been 
closed  in  such  a  way  as  not  necessarily  to  remain  closed  entirely  in 
the  future,  and  if  future  circumstances  shall  render  its  reopening 
advisable  it  may  resume  its  historic  career. 

Its  history,  especially  for  about  thirty-five  years  prior  to  1861,  is 
quite  a  distinguished  one,  and  is  the  more  remarkable  from  the  fact 
that  all  of  its  work  was  accomplished  without  any  endowment  and 
solely  upon  the  income  derived  from  tuition  fees.  During  its  exist- 
ence it  graduated  a  number  of  students  who  afterwards  reached  posi- 
tions of  great  prominence  as  governors,  members  of  Congress,  bish- 
ops, editors,  preachers,  jurists,  physicians,  lawyers,  and  politicians. 
United  States  Attorney-General  Garland;  Governor  Powell,  of  Ken- 
tucky; Governor  Wickliffe,  of  Louisiana;  Hon.  Thomas  C.  McCreery, 
and  others  are  among  its  noted  alumni. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Collins's  Sketches,  Allen's,  Collins's,  Smith's,  and  Perrin,  Battle  and  Kniffeii's 
History. 

Spalding's  Sketches  of  Early  Catholic  Missions. 
Spal ding's  Sketches  of  the  Life  and  Times  of  Bishop  Flaget. 
Biographical  Sketch  of  Hon.  L.  W.  Powell. 
Maes's  Life  of  Nerinckx. 
Webb's  Centenary  of  Catholicity  in  America. 
The  American  Almanac. 
Sadlier's  Catholic  Directory  for  1878. 


EXTINCT    COLLEGES.  323 

CUMBERLAND   COLLEGE,  PRINCETON. 

Cumberland  College  was  established  at  Princeton,  Ky.,  in  1826  by 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,  from  which  it  derived  its 
name.  It  was  one  of  the  first,  if  not  the  first,  of  the  institutions  in  the 
State  to  make  anything  like  an  adequate  test  of  a  system  of  manual 
labor  as  a  part  of  its  regular  work.  A  large  farm  was  attached  to 
the  college,  upon  which  all  students  were  required  for  some  time  to 
labor  two  hours  each  day.  They  also  all  took  their  meals  at  a  general 
boarding  house. 

The  preliminary  steps  looking  toward  the  establishment  of  the  insti- 
tution were  taken  by  Kentucky  Synod  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyte- 
rian Church  in  1825,  when  it  was  resolved  by  that  body,  with  great 
unanimity,  to  found  a  college  in  which  its  ministry,  especially,  might 
be  properly  educated.  The  manual-labor  system  was  ingrafted  upon 
the  institution  in  order  to  diminish  the  expense 1  of  attendance  and  at 
the  same  time  promote  health  and  practical  habits.  The  college  was 
chartered  by  an  act  of  the  State  legislature  approved  January  8, 1827,2 
by  the  terms  of  which  it  was  placed  under  the  management  of  a  board 
of  not  more  than  eleven  nor  less  than  seven  trustees,  who  were  to  be 
appointed  by  Kentucky  Synod.  The  students  also  might  be  required 
to  labor  as  much  as  three  hours  a  day  "  on  the  farm  attached  to  the 
college."  The  institution  was  later  taken  under  the  care  of  the  gen- 
eral assembly  of  the  church,  and  became  the  representative  institu- 
tion of  the  whole  denomination  instead  of  Kentucky  synod  simply. 

The  college  had  been  opened  before  its  charter  was  secured,  in 
March,  1826,  and  had  as  its  first  president,  Rev.  F.  R.  Cossitt,3  D.  D., 
who  was  assisted  by  Daniel  L.  Morrison,  as  professor  of  mathematics 
and  natural  philosophy,  and  by  several  young  men  as  tutors.  Dr. 
Cossitt  was  a  native  of  New  Hampshire  and  was  educated  at  Middle- 
bury  College,  Vermont.  He  was  a  man  of  culture  and  a  writer  of 
merit.  He  remained  at  the  head  of  Cumberland  College  as  long  as  it 
remained  under  the  care  of  the  whole  church. 

The  original  college  building  was  a  substantial  two-story  brick 
structure,  60  by  22  feet.  To  this  was  added  in  1832  another  similar 
building,  70  by  40  feet.  There  was  at  that  time  also  a  dormitory  for 
students.  Professor  Morrison  had  resigned  in  1830,  but  his  place  had 
been  supplied,  and  another  regular  professor  had  been  added  to  the 
faculty,  which  in  1833  4  was  composed  as  follows:  Rev.  F.  R.  Cossitt, 
president,  mental  and  moral  philosophy  and  belles-lettres;  Rev.  R. 

1  The  American  Almanac  for  1833  gives  the  total  expenses  of  a  student  under 
the  system  as  $80  a  year. 
2 Acts  of  1827-28,  pp.  21-27. 

3  A  sketch  of  Dr.  Cossitt  is  to  be  found  in  Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  I, 
p.  435,  where  the  name  is  incorrectly  spelled  Cassitt. 

4  From  American  Almanac  for  1834. 


324  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN   KENTUCKY. 

Beard,  ancient  languages;  Livingston  Lindsay,  mathematics  and  natu- 
ral philosophy;  Rev.  A.  Shelby,  steward  and  superintendent  of  farm. 

In  order  to  carry  out  one  of  the  special  objects  of  the  institution, 
instruction  in  theology  was  also  given  by  President  Cossitt  and  Pro- 
fessor Beard. 

The  college  had  early  in  its  history  a  library  of  several  hundred 
volumes  and  a  respectable  chemical  and  philosophical  apparatus,  and 
did  much  excellent  educational  work,  particularly  in  furnishing  its 
church  with  well-trained  ministers.  It  had  up  to  1842  an  annual 
average  attendance  of  about  60  students,  and  its  graduates  up  to 
that  time  numbered  52.  Its  manual-labor  feature,  although  we  are 
informed  it  was  considered  a  great  benefit  in  1832, l  had  before  long 
proved  not  suited  to  the  ideas  and  habits  of  those  who  could  be  chiefly 
depended  on  to  patronize  the  institution,  and  so  was  not  a  success, 
while  much  financial  embarrassment  had  also  arisen  and  a  number  of 
changes  in  the  faculty  had  taken  place. 

The  state  of  its  affairs  had  become  such  as  to  cause  the  church  as 
a  whole  to  lose  hope  in  its  success  under  the  conditions  then  existing 
at  Princeton,  and  so  the  general  assembly  of  1842  gave  up  the  insti- 
tution as  a  general  church  enterprise  and  transferred  its  patronage 
to  Cumberland  University,  then  founded  at  Lebanon,  Tenn. ,  which 
place  had  offered  considerable  financial  inducements  and  was  consid- 
ered in  other  respects  a  more  desirable  location  than  Princeton  for  a 
general  church  institution.  Dr.  Cossitt,  who  became  the  president 
of  the  new  universit}^  with  all  of  the  .professors  at  Princeton  but  one, 
removed  to  Lebanon  in  February,  1843,  and  so  old  Cumberland  Col- 
lege may  be  said  to  exist  yet  in  the  newer  Cumberland  University, 
still  the  leading  educational  institution  of  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church. 

The  college  at  Princeton,  after  having  been  abandoned  by  the 
church  at  large,  was  taken  charge  of  by  Green  River  Synod,  and, 
with  its  manual  labor  department  discarded,  remained  until  1858  a 
church  enterprise.  It  was,  however,  during  this  period  never  able  to 
become  much  more  than  a  local  high  school,  depending  on  tuition 
fees  for  a  rather  precarious  existence,  and  was  finally  abandoned 
altogether  by  the  church. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Collins's  Sketches. 

Collins's  History. 

Davidson's  Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky. 

Barnard's  American  Journal. 

The  American  Almanac. 

Acts  of  the  Legislature. 

Higher  Education  in  Tennessee,  by  L.  S.  Merriam,  Ph.  D.;  Washington, 

1  Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education,  vol.  27,  p.  335. 


EXTINCT    COLLEGES.  325 

SHELBY    COLLEGE,  SHELBYVILLE. 

The  facts  obtainable  in  regard  to  the  history  of  Shelby  College,  at 
one  time  somewhat  prominent  among  the  educational  institutions  of 
the  State,  can  be  stated  in  a  comparatively  few  words. 

The  college  was  founded  at  Shelbyville  in  1836,1  and  in  1841  took 
on  the  denominational  feature  characteristic  of  most  of  the  colleges 
of  the  State  by  coming  under  the  management  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  It  was  controlled  by  that  church  for  thirty  years,  although 
it  seems  not  to  have  been  supported  by  the  denomination  with  very 
great  unanimity.2 

The  college  building  was  a  handsome  brick  structure,  142  feet  long 
by  70  feet  wide,  and  its  grounds  embraced  18  acres.  There  was  also 
a  president's  house  in  addition  to  the  main  building. 

The  president  of  the  institution  during  most  of  its  history  was  Rev. 
W.  I.  Waller,  M.  D.,  a  prominent  Episcopal  clergyman.  The  Epis- 
copal Seminary,  formerly  associated  with  Transylvania  University 
during  the  presidency  of  Rev.  B.  O.  Peers,  seems  to  have  been  oper- 
ated for  a  time  in  connection  with  the  college,  which  during  its  exist- 
ence educated  many  young  men  for  business  life  and  for  the  various 
professions. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Collins's  Sketches. 
Collins's  History. 
Acts  of  the  Legislature. 

Historical  Sketches  of  Christ  Church,  Louisville,  by  Rev.  James  Craik;  Louis- 
ville, 1862. 

EMINENCE  COLLEGE,  EMINENCE. 

Eminence  College  furnishes  in  its  history  a  good  example  of  what 
can  be  done  by  individual  ability  and  enterprise  in  the  field  of  educa- 
tion. It  is  also  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  result  of  all  educa- 
tional undertakings  which  depend  solely  upon  personal  initiative. 
The  history  of  Eminence  College  is  an  epitome  of  a  large  part  of  the 
educational  services  of  its  president,  W.  S.  Giltner,  and  when  he  sev- 
ered his  connection  with  it  the  institution  ceased  to  exist. 

The  college  grew  out  of  a  high  school  established  at  Eminence  by  a 
number  of  public-spirited  citizens  of  the  community,  who  in  1855 
had  organized  themselves  into  a  stock  company  and  founded  a  school, 
which  was  opened  in  September,  1857,  with  Prof.  S.  G.  Mullins  as 
principal.  The  school  had  been  regularly  chartered  in  1857,  but  con- 
tinued only  one  year  under  its  original  management,  as  the  not 

1  The  college  was  given  the  right  on  February  16,  1837  (acts  of  1836-37,  p.  219), 
to  raise  $100,000  by  lottery.     We  have  no  account  as  to  how  much  was  thus 
realized. 

2  Craik,  in  his  Sketches  of  Christ  Church,  Louisville,  page  106,  says  that  the  vestry 
of  that  church  on  August  10,  1846,  recommended  that  the  college  be  abandoned 
by  the  church. 


326  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

uncommon  mistake  had  been  made  by  those  interested  of  going  beyond 
their  means  in  erecting  and  equipping  the  commodious  building  of 
the  institution,  so  the  property  had  to  be  sold  and  was  acquired  by 
a  new  company  with  Prof.  W.  S.  Giltner,  a  graduate  of  Bethany  Col- 
lege, West  Virginia,  at  its  head. 

Under  the  new  order  of  things,  Professor  Giltner,  who  had  already 
had  several  years'  successful  experience  as  an  educator,  was  made,  in 
1858,  the  principal  of  the  institution,  whose  patronage,  chiefly  through 
his  personal  efforts  and  ability,  soon  became  large  and  well  sustained. 
So,  in  the  natural  order  of  things,  the  high  school  soon  blossomed  out 
into  a  college,  through  an  amendment  to  its  charter  secured  in  1861. 
It  also  soon  became  practically  a  private  enterprise  through  the  acqui- 
sition of  at  least  a  large  part  of  its  stock  by  its  president. 

The  institution  had  sent  forth  its  first  graduating  class  of  seven 
members  in  1860,  from  which  date  it  continued  in  successful  opera- 
tion for  about  thirty-five  years,  during  which  its  annual  matricula- 
tion was  comparatively  large,  having  been  quite  good  even  during  the 
civil  war.  Up  to  1877  it  had  an  attendance  annually  of  from  126  to 
204  students,  and  its  graduating  class  each  year  numbered  from  1  to 
18.  Its  attendance  declined  considerably  after  1877,  but  continued 
fairly  good  even  down  practically  to  its  close.  During  its  existence 
its  matriculates,  who  were  about  equally  divided  between  the  sexes, 
represented  as  many  as  eleven  States  of  the  Union  and  one  foreign 
country. 

The  original  high  school  had  been  coeducational,  and  this  feature 
was  ingrafted  upon  the  college,  which  claims  to  have  been  the  first 
college  in  Kentucky 1  to  advocate  and  adopt  the  policy  of  coeducation. 
Separate  boarding  departments  and  study  halls  were  maintained  for 
the  two  sexes,  but  the  general  educational  privileges  of  the  institution 
wa,re  shared  equally  by  them.  The  college  maintained  a  special 
course  for  girls  who  did  not  wish  to  take  the  longer  and  stronger 
course  intended  primarily  for  boys.  In  this  course  diplomas  and  not 
degrees  were  conferred.  The  more  advanced  course,  which  was  taken 
by  many  of  the  girls  with  eminent  success,  led  to  the  degrees  of  bache- 
lor of  arts  and  bachelor  of  science,  and  embraced  the  departments  of 
ancient  languages,  mathematics,  physics  and  chemistry,  mental  philos- 
ophy, biblical  literature,  and  modern  languages.  To  suit  the  needs 
of  individual  students,  departments  of  music  and  art  were  inaugu- 
rated from  the  beginning,  while  in  1880  a  commercial  department  was 
instituted,  and  in  1885  a  normal  department,  intended  especially  to 
train  teachers  for  the  public  schools  of  the  State,  was  added.  The 
institution  had  early  in  its  history  a  fair  amount  of  chemical  and 
physical  apparatus,  a  good  mineralogical  cabinet,  and  a  moderate- 
sized  reference  library.  The  faculty  of  the  college  contained  as  a  rule 

1  Sketch  of  Eminence  College,  page  3. 


EXTINCT    COLLEGES.  327 

from  seven  to  nine  members,  and  throughout  its  history  it  main- 
tained four  regular  academic  professorships. 

Eminence  College  never  had  any  endowment,  and  its  prosperity,  at 
least  during  most  of  its  history,  was  due  entirely  to  the  personal 
exertions  of  its  president.  That  it  performed  efficient  educational 
services  is  shown  by  the  success  achieved  by  its  graduates,  who  num- 
bered altogether,  up  to  1893,  inclusive,  235,  and  were  pointed  toby  the 
institution  rather  than  "  magnificent  buildings  and  munificent-endow- 
ments in  proof  of  the  hale  and  vigorous  life  " l  prevailing  there.  Many 
of  its  alumni  have  taken  an  honored  rank  in  the  various  learned  pro- 
fessions, there  being  among  them  prominent  teachers,  editors,  minis- 
ters, lawyers,  and  physicians. 

The  college  was  closed  in  February,  1895,  principally  because  it 
had  ceased  to  be  a  financial  success,  President  Giltner  determining 
at  that  time  to  retire  from  active  participation  in  its  management. 
Its  property  has  since  been  used  for  private  purposes.  When  Pro- 
fessor Giltner's  forceful  personality  was  withdrawn  and  no  similar 
impetus  was  at  hand,  nothing  was  left  upon  which  the  perpetuity  of 
the  institution  might  be  based.  On  the  other  hand,  if  its  equipment 
had  been  owned  and  controlled  by  some  permanent  organization,  as, 
for  instance,  a  religious  denomination,  it  would  have  been  much  more 
likely,  independent  of  any  question  of  endowment,  to  have  had  a  con- 
tinuous existence  and  to  have  perpetuated  its  educational  usefulness, 
although  its  efficiency  at  any  given  time  would,  of  course,  have  largely 
depended  upon  the  one  actually  in  charge  of  its  executive  affairs.  In 
the  history  of  such  institutions  as  Eminence  College  lies  a  useful 
public  lesson. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Biographical  Encyclopedia  of  Kentucky.  Historical  Sketch  of  Eminence  Col- 
lege, Eminence,  1876-77. 

1  Historical  Sketch,  page  8. 


Chapter  IX. 

THE  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  SYSTEM. 


EARLY  IDEAS. 

We  have  seen,  in  treating  of  the  early  university  system,  that  the 
leaders  of  educational  thought  in  Kentucky,  especially  Judge  Wal- 
lace, early  contemplated  a  system  of  popular  elementary  education, 
as  the  academy  plan,  doubtless  in  the  mind  of  Judge  Wallace,  at 
least,  had  in  view  an  extension  of  the  system  to  include  more  elemen- 
tary schools,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  came  last  in  such  a  system, 
according  to  the  ideas  then  prevalent  in  Virginia  and  Kentucky.  It 
was  probably  with  the  object  of  later  adding  the  more  elementary 
schools  that  such  advanced  steps  were  taken  in  appropriating  public 
land  for  educational  purposes  to  the  academies.  We  have  observed, 
however,  that  the  academy  plan,  even  as  far  as  it  was  carried  out, 
was  in  advance  of  the  public  opinion  of  the  day,  absorbed  as  the  peo- 
ple generally  were  in  the  engrossing  pursuits  of  a  pioneer  agricultu- 
ral community  and  scattered  as  they  were  in  a  wilderness  of  forests 
in  which  lurked  a  savage  foe,  ever  to  be  watched,  and  thus  having 
little  time  or  opportunity  to  think  of  such  questions. 

Most  of  the  leaders  themselves  also  seem  to  have  been  occupied 
with  the  practical  questions  of  the  day  or  devoted  such  time  as  they 
could  spare  from  these  to  the  promotion  of  higher  education  in  the 
denominational  form  that  it  had  early  taken  in  the  State.  The  higher 
educational  feature  was  then  considered  much  the  most  important 
part  of  the  system,  and  in  its  development  the  educational  energy  of 
the  State  was  for  a  considerable  time  mainly  engaged.  So  we  see  lit- 
tle or  no  public  notice  of  popular  education  in  the  early  years  of  the 
State's  history  and  no  mention  is  made  of  it  in  the  messages  of  its 
early  governors  or  in  the  first  two  constitutions  of  the  State,  adopted 
in  1792  and  1799,  respectively. 

One  of  the  first  public  utterances,  if  not  the  first,  on  the  subject  is  to 
be  found  in  the  message  of  Governor  Gabriel  Slaughter,  of  December 
3,  1816,  in  which  he  advocated  the  establishment  of  a  State  school 
fund  by  taxing  banks  and  other  corporations  and  by  setting  aside  for 
that  purpose  the  dividends  on  the  bank  stocks  held  by  the  State  and 
328 


THE   PUBLIC-SCHOOL    SYSTEM.  329 

the  income  from  all  escheated  lands,  provided  this  could  be  done 
"without  materially  increasing  the  public  burdens."  Again,  in  his 
message  of  December  2,  1817,  about  half  of  which  he  devotes  to  this 
subject,  he  says: 

I  beg  leave  again  to  bring  into  view  the  subject  of  education,  one  of  the  first 
importance  that  can  engage  our  attention,  whether  we  regard  its  influence  on 
human  happiness  or  the  permanency  of  our  republican  system. 

He  then  recommended  that  the  State  be  divided  into  districts  of  5 
or  6  miles  square,  in  which  schools  should  be  supported,  in  part  if  not 
entirely,  by  the  State  and  should  be  free  to  all  poor  children,  saying 
in  connection: 

We  have  many  good  schools,  but  nothing  short  of  carrying  education  to  the 
neighborhood  of  every  man  in  the  State  can  satisfy  the  just  claims  of  the  people 
or  fulfill  the  duty  of  the  Government. 

In  his  message  of  December  8,  1818,  he  does  not  urge  further  his 
educational  system,  because  the  previous  legislature  seemed  to  "have 
thought  it  better  to  accommodate  the  country  with  a  number  of  banks 
than  with  good  schools,"  although  he  said: 

We  neither  have  free  schools  for  the  education  of  the  poor,  nor  colleges,  nor 
universities  sufficiently  endowed  to  vie  with  the  literary  institutions  of  our  sister 
States. 

Again,  however,  on  December  7,  1819,  he  advocated  the  setting 
apart  for  educational  purposes  of  the  public  lands  recently  acquired 
by  the  State  from  the  Indians  and  all  other  public  lands  then  held 
by  the  State,  to  which  were  to  be  added  all  fines  and  forfeitures, 
together  with  all  escheated  lands  and  all  other  sources  of  revenue  not 
actually  needed  for  the  expenses  of  the  State. 

These  ideas  were  certainly  quite  liberal  for  the  time  and  surround- 
ings and  were  doubtless  considerably  in  advance  of  public  opinion,  as 
they  seem  to  have  awakened  no  adequate  response  on  the  part  of  the 
legislature.  They  had,  however,  one  deficiency  not  thoroughly  rem- 
edied in  Kentucky  until  comparatively  recent  years — the  idea  that 
the  public  schools  were  to  be  primarily  not  for  the  masses,  but  for  the 
poor,  thus  giving  to  them  an  idea  of  charity  and  a  tone  of  caste  which 
necessarily  resulted  in  their  inefficiency,  especially  when  coupled, 
as  it  was  for  a  considerable  time,  with  meager  revenues. 

THE   FIRST   SYSTEM,    WITH    THE   STEPS   PREPARATORY   TO   ITS  INAUGU- 
RATION. 

The  recognized  failure  of  the  State  academies  by  about  1820  began 
to  call  the  attention  of  the  State  authorities  and  the  people  generally 
to  the  need  of  some  other  means  of  public  education.  So  we  find 
Governor  John  Adair,  in  his  message  of  October  16,  1821,  again  urg- 
ing upon  the  legislature  the  importance  of  a  public-school  system,  as 


330  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION   IN    KENTUCKY, 

he  had  previously  urged  upon  them  the  liberal  support  of  Transyl- 
vania and  the  academies.     He  says  of  popular  education : 

It  is  necessary  to  the  purity  and  permanency  of  our  civil  and  political  institu- 
tions and  to  our  relative  dignity  and  influence  in  the  council  of  the  nation  that  it 
should  succeed. 

The  legislature  of  this  session  thought  somewhat  in  like  manner, 
and  after  having,  in  conjunction  with  a  similar  action  by  Maryland 
and  other  States,  instructed  the  representatives  of  Kentucky  in  Con- 
gress to  apply  for  public  land  for  educational  purposes  at  the  hands 
of  the  General  Government,  took  the  first  step  in  establishing  a  public- 
school  system  for  the  State  by  setting  aside  by  an  act  approved 
December  18,  1821,  one-half  the  net  profits  of  the  stock  held  by  the 
State  in  the  Bank  of  the  Commonwealth  for  a  permanent  public- 
school  fund. 

It  also  took  an  additional  step  at  the  same  time  in  appointing  an 
able  commission,  composed  of  William  T.  Barry,  J.  R.  Witherspoon, 
D.  II.  Murray,  and  John  Pope^to  collect  information  and  prepare  and 
report  a  system  of  common  schools  suited  to  the  peculiar  circumstances 
and  habits  of  the  people)  which  report  was  to  be  presented  to  the  legis- 
lature of  1822.  This  commission  sought  to  ascertain  the  actual  con- 
dition of  the  schools  of  Kentucky,  and  also  inquired  in  regard  to  the 
success  of  the  systems  of  other  States,  especially  those  of  Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut,  and  New  York.  In  the  course  of  its  investigations 
it  conducted  a  correspondence  with  John  Adams,  Thomas  Jefferson, 
James  Madison,  Robert  Y.  Hayne,  and  other  prominent  public  men 
in  regard  to  pubic  schools  in  their  respective  States. 

Its  report  made  in  the  latter  part  of  1822 i  was  an  able  one  and  fav- 
ored the  State  fostering  Transylvania  University  and  the  academies 
as  training  schools  for  teachers,  but  advocated  a  public-school  system, 
supported  by  State  appropriations,  augmented  by  local  taxation,  as  in 
the  New  York  system.  The  schools  were  to  be  for  the  public  gen- 
erally, and  not  for  the  poor  only,  and  were  to  be  made  free  as  far  as 
possible^  The  commission  believed  such  a  system  practicable  in  Ken- 
tucky, although  the  State  was  then  sparsely  settled  and  the  existence 
of  slavery  was  likely  to  be  somewhat  of  a  hindrance.  It  was  also 
recommended  that  there  should  be  a  State  superintendent  of  schools, 
who  might  also  at  the  same  time  hold  some  other  State  office,  as  that 
of  secretary  of  state,  and^who  should  act  in  conjunction  with  the 
local  judicial  officers  in  inaugurating  and  carrying  on  the  system. 

Barnard2  speaks  of  the  report  of  this  commission  as  "one  of  the 

1  The  first  report  of  the  commission  was  issued  November  30,  1822,  and  an  addi- 
tional one  on  December  2  following,  to  which  the  two  additional  names  of  David 
White  and  William  P.  Roper  are  attached. 

2  American  Journal  of  Education,  vol.  16,  p.  353.    The  report  of  the  commission 
was  drawn  up  by  Amos  Kendall,  subsequently  Postmaster-General  of  the  United 
States,  then  a  teacher  in  Frankfort. 


THE    PUBLIC-SCHOOL    SYSTEM.  331 

most  valuable  documents  upon  common-school  education  that  had  at 
that  time  appeared. " )  The  only  thing  that  seems  to  have  been  done 
in  regard  to  it  by  the  legislature  of  the  time  is  that  the  committee  on 
education  highly  approved  of  it,  and  it  was  ordered  to  be  printed  for 
general  distribution.  This  was  done  soon  afterwards,  the  letters  of 
Adams,  Madison,  Jefferson,  and  Hayne  being  appended,  and  through 
its  general  circulation  in  the  State  it  doubtless  later  had  a  favorable 
influence  on  public  opinion. 

The  income  from  the  bank  stock  set  aside  by  the  act  of  1821  was  at 
the  time  about  $60,000  per  annum,  but  this  seems  neither  to  have 
been  applied  to  public  education  nor  to  have  been  properly  husbanded.   ; 
Rev.  B.  O.  Peers  tells  *  us  that  in  1829  it  only  amounted  to  a  total  of  ! 
$150,000,  and  Barnard  says 2  that  in  1833  there  was  only  about  $141,000   j 
of  it  remaining.     Most  of  it  had  gone  where  the  rest  of  it  then  threat-  / 
ened  to  go — to  defray  deficiencies  in  the  general  revenues  of  the  State. 

Meanwhile  several  other  preparatory  steps  looking  toward  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  general  system  were  taken.  By  an  act  approved  Decem- 
ber 21,  1825, 3  any  five  persons  were  given  the  right  to  associate  them- 
selves together  and  hold  property  for  school  purposes,  trustees  for  its 
management  being  appointed  by  the  county  court.  Governor  Desha, 
in  his  message  of  December  4,  1826,  recommended  that  in  addition  to 
the  fund  already  created  the  remainder  of  the  bank  stock  held  by  the 
State,  the  proceeds  from  vacant  lands,  and  certain  other  funds  should 
be  invested  in  building  turnpikes,  the  dividends  from  which  were  "to 
be  forever  sacredly  devoted  to  the  interest  of  education."  This  rec- 
ommendation does  not  seem  to  have  been  adopted  by  the  legislature ; 
but  had  it  been  it  is  not  probable  that  much  income  would  ever  have 
been  realized  from  this  source,  as  Kentucky  seems  never  to  have 
received  much  return  financially  from  her  investments  in  internal 
improvements.  The  preoccupation  of  the  State  in  these  improve- 
ments and  the  absorption  of  its  revenues  in  carrying  them  out  is  one 
great  reason  why  no  more  attention  was  paid  to  public  education  at  \ 
this  time. 

On  January  29,  1829,  probably  as  an  outcome,  partially  at  least,  of 
the  report  of  the  commission  of  1822,  the  committee  of  the  legislature 
on  education  called  upon  Rev.  Alva  Woods,  D.  D.,  then  president  of 
Transylvania  University,  and  Rev.  B.  O.  Peers,  already  a  prominent 
advocate  and  exponent  of  advanced  educational  ideas  and  methods, 
for  an  expression  of  their  opinion  on  the  subject  of  common  schools. 

The  report  of  this  committee,  published  in  January,  1830,  had 
appended  to  it  a  letter  from  Rev.  Mr.  Peers,  purporting,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, to  give  "the  collective  experience  of  the  nation."  It  contained 
an  able  examination  of  the  systems  of  the  Middle  and  New  England 

1  Letter  of  1829. 

2  American  Journal  of  Education,  vol.  27,  p.  335. 

3  Acts  of  1825-26,  p.  118. 


332  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

States  in  comparison  with  those  of  Ohio  and  Virginia,  and  again,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  commission  of  1822,  indorsed  the  New  York  plan  of 
having  the  State  appropriation  conditioned  upon  the  levying  of  at 
least  an  equal  amount  by  local  taxation,  especially  in  a  State  where 
public  opinion  was  laggard.  It  also  showed  the  necessity  of  legis- 
lative patronage  and  control  as  well  as  of  an  enlightened  public 
sentiment  for  the  success  of  any  system. 

Mr.  Peers  was  also  in  advance  of  the  country  generally  at  the  time 
in  advocating  the  training  of  teachers  by  the  State  through  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  State  normal  school.  His  letter  and  his  subsequent  agi- 
tation of  the  subject,  by  public  discussion  and  through  the  press, 
awakened  the  public  mind  on  the  question.  He  was  thus  largely 
instrumental  in  arousing  the  people,  and  by  his  influence,  in  various 
ways,  both  before,  during,  and  after  his  presidency  of  Transylvania 
University,  may  be  considered,  perhaps  more  than  any  other  one  man, 
the  father  of  the  public-school  system  of  Kentucky. 

He  took  a  prominent  part  in  various  State  educational  meetings  held 
at  this  period,  and  used  other  powerful  means  in  influencing  public 
opinion.  The  first  of  these  was  the  State  educational  convention, 
which  met  in  Lexington  on  November  7, 1833,  and  formed  plans  upon 
which  a  State  common-school  society  was  established  at  Frankfort 
in  January  of  the  following  year.  This  society  memorialized  the 
legislature  in  behalf  of  common  schools  and  a  normal  school,  and  took 
other  steps  to  bring  the  matter  of  public  education  to  the  attention 
of  the  people  of  the  State  generally.  Governor  Breathitt,  James  T. 
Morehead,  Rev.  John  C.  Young,  Rev.  H.  B.  Bascom,  Thomas  Mar- 
shall, and  Daniel  Breck  were,  among  others,  prominently  associated 
with  Mr.  Peers  in  these  conventions. 

At  the  same  time  that  Mr.  Peers  had  been  called  on  by  the  legisla- 
ture for  his  report  on  common  schools  the  Representatives  of  the 
State  in  Congress  had  been  again  requested  to  ask  for  an  appropria- 
tion of  public  land  for  the  aid  of  schools,  but  before  anything  was 
received  from  the  General  Government  an  act  was  passed  by  the 
State  legislature  on  January  29,  1830,1  which  bears  the  rather  grandil- 
oquent title  of  "An  act  to  encourage  the  general  diffusion  of  educa- 
tion in  this  Commonwealth  by  the  establishment  of  a  uniform  system 
of  public  schools. "  This  act  provided  that  the  county  courts  might 
lay  off  the  various  counties  into  school  districts,  which  were  to  be 
under  the  management  of  three  commissioners  elected  by  the  district 
and  empowered  to  collect  a  poll  tax  of  not  over  50  cents  per  capita  for 
school  purposes,  while  a  tax  of  not  over  6£  cents  on  the  $1 00  might  be 
voted  by  the  district  for  the  same  object.  No  material  result  appears 
to  have  come  from  this  act,  as  local  sentiment  was  not  in  most  cases 
sufficient  even  to  inaugurate  the  system,  much  less  to  vote  the  tax 
needed  for  its  support. 

'Acts  of  1829-30,  pp.  272-281. 


THK    PUBLIC-SCHOOL    SYSTEM.  333 

Not  long  after  this  the  petitions  of  the  States  to  Congress  led  to  a 
tangible  result,  as  that  body,  by  an  act  approved  June  23, 183G,  deter- 
mined to  distribute  the  surplus  then  in  the  Treasury  among  the  various 
States.  This  distribution  was,  partially  at  least,  in  lieu  of  the  grants 
of  public  land  requested,  and  was  to  begin  on  the  1st  of  the  following 
January.  Soon  after  the  reception  of  the  first  installment,  Kentucky, 
which  had  asked  for  the  grant  for  educational  purposes,  established  the 
foundation  of  its  present  public-school  fund  by  an  act  (February  23, 
1837)  which  declared  that  $1,000,000  of  the  amount  received  from  the 
General  Government  should  be  ' '  set  apart  and  forever  dedicated  to 
the  founding  and  sustaining  a  general  system  of  public  instruction." 

As  the  amount  received  from  the  United  States  did  not  turn  out  to 
be  as  large  as  had  been  expected,  an  act  of  February  16, 1838,1  reduced 
the  amount  previously  set  apart  from  $1,000,000  to  $850,000,  which  was 
declared  to  be  "dedicated  and  forever  set  apart  to  the  purposes  of 
education."  By  this  same  act  what  is  really  the  first  public-school 
S37stem  of  the  State  was  organized.  The  outlines  of  this  system  were 
as  follows: 

(1)  The  fund  created  by  the  act  was  to  be  distributed  to  the  coun- 
ties in  proportion  to  the  number  of  children  of  school  age. 

(2)  A  board  of  education  was  established,  consisting  of  the  secretary 
of  state,  the  attorney-general,  and  a  new  officer — the  superintendent 
of  common  schools,  who  was  to  be  appointed  by  the  governor  and  was 
chairman  of  the  board,  his  duties  being  principally  to  prepare  reports 
and  apportion  the  school  money. 

(3)  The  State  was  to  be  divided  into  districts,  each  containing  not 
more  than  50  nor  less  than  30  children  of  from  5  to  16  years  of  age. 

(4)  Each  district  was  allowed  to  tax  itself  to  an  amount  equal  to 
what  it  received  from  the  State  fund. 

(5)  Five  commissioners  were  to  be  appointed  in  each  county  whose 
principal  duties  were  to  report  the  number  of  schools,  the  number  of 
children  of  school  age,  and  to  distribute  the  money  to  these  schools. 

(6)  Five  trustees  were  to  be  elected  by  each  district  who  were  to 
build  schoolhouses  and  organize  schools,  being,  however,  only  em- 
powered to  levy  a  poll  tax  of  50  cents  per  capita  for  the  former  pur- 
pose. 

To  Judge  William  F.  Bullock,  of  Louisville,  is  to  be  given  a  large 
part  of  the  credit  for  the  passage  of  this  law,  which  was  certainly  not 
enacted  before  it  was  needed,  as  we  are  told  that  there  were  in  Ken- 
tucky at  the  time  175,000  children  of  school  age,  about  half  of  whom 
were  without  any  previous  opportunity  for  a  common-school  educa- 
tion, and  one-third  of  the  adult  population  of  the  State  at  the  time 
were  unable  to  write  their  own  names. 

The  system  was  based  largely  upon  Mr.  Peers's  ideas,  although  con- 
siderably below  these,  and  had  some  excellent  features.  It  was,  how- 

1  Acts  of  1837-38,  pp.  274-283. 


334  HISTORY   OF   HIGHER   EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

ever,  defective  in  many  ways,  as  in  not  giving  the  districts  sufficient 
inducement  and  power  to  lay  local  taxes;  not  making  adequate  provi- 
sion for  supplying  schoolhouses,  inspecting  schools,  and  securing  the 
proper  qualifications  of  teachers,  but  especially  in  making  the  super- 
intendent a  minor  State  officer  and  not  giving  to  him  the  proper  pow- 
ers and  privileges.  The  law  was,  moreover,  cumbersome  in  many 
ways,  and,  most  of  all,  was  not  yet  backed  by  a  proper  state  of  public 
opinion,  as  was  soon  to  be  shown.  It  had  great  difficulties  to  contend 
with,  due  to  the  population  of  the  State  being  scattered  and  its  system 
of  local  government  being  somewhat  defective,  but  its  greatest  obsta- 
cle was  public  indifference  and  lack  of  information  in  regard  to  the 
law  and  its  operations.  There  was,  on  the  part  of  the  people  at  large, 
the  lack  of  a  proper  standard  of  education  and  of  a  consequent  de- 
mand that  the  law  be  properly  enforced. 

THE   SOLIDIFICATION   OF  PUBLIC   OPINION  AND   THE   IMPROVEMENT  OF 
THE    ORGANIZATION   OF   THE   SYSTEM. 

As  has  been  noted,  the  law  of  1838  established  in  form  a  fairly  good 
public-school  system  for  the  time,  but  we  shall  see  that,  owing  to  a 
lack  of  appreciation  on  the  part  of  the  people,  and  especially  of  the 
public  men  of  the  State,  it  was  practically  entirely  inoperative  for  a 
dozen  or  more  years.  This  time  was  not,  however,  wholly  lost,  as 
during  the  period,  through  the  efficient  labors  of  the  superintendents 
and  other  friends  of  the  system,  public  opinion,  already  somewhat 
educated,  became  more  strongly  solidified  in  its  favor  and  made  it 
possible  for  its  organization  to  be  so  improved  as  to  become  really 
effective. 

The  first  superintendent  under  the  new  system]  was  Rev.  Joseph  J. 
Bullock,  D.  D.,  who  Went  into  office  about  February  28,  1838,  and 
labored  earnestly  ano^iaithfully  to  make  it  a  success,1  but  for  some 
time  the  school  system  had  only  a  nominal  existence,  for  as  early  as 
1840  the  State  refused  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  school  fund,  owing 
to  her  system  of  public  improvements  having  depleted  her  treasury 
and  impaired  her  credit.  Up  to  1843  only  $2,504  of  this  interest  had 
been  paid,  while  $116,375  remained  unpaid,  and  by  a  legislative  act 
of  February  10, 1845,  all  the  State  school  bonds  were  actually  destroyed. 

Superintendent  Bullock  had  been  succeeded  in  1839  by  Rev.  H.  H. 
Kavanaugh,  D.  D. ,  who  served  until  1840.  The  office  was  held  during 
the  next  seven  years  by  B.  B.  Smith,  D.  D.,  who  served  from  1840  to 
1842;  George  W.  Brush,  who  served  from  1842  to  1843,  and  R.  T. 
Dillard,  D.  D.,  who  served  from  1843  to  1847.1  (These  were  able  and 
conscientious  superintendents,  but,  owing  to  the  difficulties  already 
noticed,  combined  with  crude  and  unsympathetic  legislation,  the 

1B.  B.  Sayre,  A.  M.,  was  appointed  to  fill  a  vacancy  on  March  1,  1842,  but  soon 
declined.  Rev.  Robert  Davidson,  D.  D.,  was  appointed  on  April  26,  1842,  but 
declined  on  May  15,  1842. 


THE    PUBLIC-SCHOOL    SYSTEM.  335 

school  system  made  little  apparent  progress,  although  public  senti-   i 
ment  was  somewhat  cultivated  in  its  behalf,  as  shown  by  the  support 
given  it  in  the  next  administration. 

Rev.  Robert  J.  Breckinridge,  D.  D.,  was  appointed  superintendent 
on  September  14,  1847,  and  at  once  took  up  the  cause  of  popular  edu- 
cation with  enthusiasm.  It  was  largely  through  his  indefatigable 
efforts  that  the  next  important  steps  in  the  progress  of  the  system 
were  made.  He  first  secured,  in  1847  and  1848,  the  issue  of  a  new  '  ;  * 
bond  for  the  State  school  fund,  which  included  all  the  arrears  of 
interest  due  and  made  the  bond  a  total  of  $1,225,768.  Also,  by  an  act 
of  February  26, 1849,  he  secured  the  submission  to  popular  vote  of  the  *- 
proposition  to  levy  a  tax  of  2  cents  on  each  $100  of  property  in  the 
State  to  furnish  additional  revenue  for  the  school  system.  This 
proposition  was  ratified  by  the  people  at  the  polls  in  the  following 
August  by  a  large  majority. 

Dr.  Breckinridge  also,  by  the  help  of  such  members  of  the  consti- 
tutional convention  of  1849  as  Lariin  J.  Proctor,  John  D.  Taylor, 
William  K.  Bowling,  Ira  Root,  Thomas  J.  Hood,  Charles  A.  Wick- 
liffe,  and  Thomas  J.  Lisle,  succeeded  in  making  another  great  gain 
for  the  system  by  having  the  school  fund  declared  inviolable  for  the  ' 
purposes  of  common-school  education  by  the  new  constitution  and 
also  by  having  the  superintendent  of  public  instruction  made  a  regu- 
lar State  officer,  to  be  elected  by  the  people.  Article  XI,  section  1 ,  of 
this  constitution,  proclaimed  on  June  11,  1850,  declares  that  the 
former  common-school  fund,  "together  with  any  sum  which  may  here- 
after be  raised  in  the  State,  by  taxation  or  otherwise,  for  purposes  of 
education,  shall  be  held  inviolable  for  the  purpose  of  sustaining  a 
system  of  common  schools." 

Another  advance  in  progress  was  accomplished  by  Dr.  Breckinridge 
when,  in  March,  1850,  against  the  strenuous  opposition  of  Governor 
Helm,  he  succeeded  by  legislative  action  in  having  the  school  fund 
considered  a  part  of  the  regular  State  debt,  the  interest  of  which  was 
payable  out  of  the  sinking  fund  and  was  one  of  the  first  charges 
against  the  State  revenues.  The  year  1850,  in  whioh  the  last  of  these 
important  gains  was  secured,  may  be  said  to  be  the  one  in  which  the 
public-school  system  of  Kentucky  was  first  regularly  organized.  Dr. 
Breckinridge's  services  in  its  behalf  were  certainly  very  great,  and  he 
may  as  truly  be  called  the  father  of  the  actual  system  as  Rev.  B.  O. 
Peers  is  of  the  public  opinion  which  called  it  into  existence. 

Dr.  Breckinridge's  labors  were  indorsed  in  1851  by  his  being 
elected  superintendent  by  the  vote  of  the  people,  and  during  the 
remainder  of  his  administration  he  endeavored  especially  to  bring 
the  people  as  far  as  possible  to  a  proper  appreciation  of  their  public 
schools.  Like  Mr.  Peers,  he  made  use  of  educational  conventions  for 
the  purpose  of  bringing  public  opinion  into  line  with  his  educational 
policy.  A  large  convention  of  the  friends  of  the  public-school  system 


336  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

met  under  his  leadership  at  Frankfort  in  November,  1851,  and  another 
in  1852,  which,  by  their  discussion,  did  much  for  the  cause  throughout 
the  State. 

Dr.  Breckinridge  resigned  his  position  as  superintendent  on  Octo- 
ber 22,  1853,  to  accept  a  chair  in  Danville  Theological  Seminary,  of 
which  he  was  one  of  the  principal  founders,  and  whose  work  he  con- 
sidered as  of  a  higher  character  of  usefulness.  His  services  as  super- 
intendent may,  in  general,  after  the  manner  of  his  last  report,  be  sum- 
marized as  follows :  He  had  had  restored  and  augmented  a  large  school 
fund,  which  had  been  made  sacred  to  its  object  by  the  State  constitu- 
tion; had  inaugurated  a  complete  system  of  schools  in  their  lowest 
stage ;  had  had  hundreds  of  schoolhouses  erected,  and  had  aroused  a 
deep  public  interest  in  favor  of  education  throughout  the  State.  His 
predecessors  had  done  much  to  create  a  healthy  public  sentiment, 
and  upon  the  foundation  they  had  laid  he  had  built  wisely  and  well. 

In  1853  the  common-school  system  was  in  operation  in  every  county 
in  this  State,  but  its  workings  were  crude  and  the  quality  of  education 
it  furnished  poor,  as  the  salaries  it  offered  could  only  call  into  its 
service  an  inferior  grade  of  teachers.  The  State  educational  fund  at 
that  time  consisted  (1)  of  the  bond  of  the  State,  amounting  to  $1,326,- 
770;  (2)  of  $73,500  in  stock  of  the  Bank  of  Kentucky,  purchased  by 
the  superintendent  in  1839;  (3)  of  the  2  cents  ad  valorem  tax  of  1849, 
which  had  since  been  supplemented  by  some  other  small  taxes.  The 
income  from  the  fund  was  about  $80,000  a  year,  and  that  from  taxes 
in  1852  $133,680.  The  combined  revenue  from  all  sources  only  fur- 
nished a  per  capita  allowance  of  60  cents  to  each  child  of  school  age 
in  the  State.  How  much  the  system  lacked  of  being  in  anything  like 
complete  operation  was  shown  by  the  fact  that  of  the  207,210  school 
children  reported  as  being  in  the  State,  only  76,429  were  in  school. 

THE   PROVISION   OF  AN  ADEQUATE   STATE   REVENUE. 

Dr.  Breckinridge's  able  and  persistent  efforts  had  converted  the 
public-school  system  from  what  had  been  largely  a  mere  form  into  an 
organization  which  possessed  the  elements  of  vitality.  iThe  system, 
however,  still  lacked  two  things  essential  to  its  highest  efficiency. 
One  was  the  passage  of  laws  needed  to  perfect  the  details  of  its  organi- 
zation and  adapt  it  to  the  special  educational  wants  of  the  people  of 
the  State ;  the  other  was  to  provide  for  it  an  adequate  general  revenue. 

The  State  common-school  laws  had  been  revised  in  1852,  contrary  to 
the  desires  of  Dr.  Breckinridge  in  a  number  of  respects,  but,  although 
the  important  principle  that  all  schools  should  be  free  was  introduced, 
no  material  advance  was  made  in  organization  and  none  was  made 
for  a  number  of  years.  The  educational  energy  of  the  State  for  the 
next  seventeen  years  was  mainly  absorbed  in  supplying  the  second  of 
the  above-mentioned  needs,  the  lack  of  an  adequate  revenue,  which, 


THE    PUBLIC-SCHOOL    SYSTEM.  337 

however,  carried  along  with  its  most  progressive  step  in  1869  a  con- 
siderable improvement  also  in  the  legal  status  of  the  school  system. 

Dr.  Breckinridge's  successor  as'  superintendent  was  John  D.  Math- 
ews,  D.  D.,  who  served  from  1853  to  1859,  having  been  appointed  to 
fill  out  his  predecessor's  term  and  then  elected  by  the  people,  in 
August,  1855.  During  his  term  of  office,  by  an  act  approved  March 
10,  1854,  and  ratified  by  a  very  large  popular  majority  in  August,  1855, 
the  ad  valorem  school  tax  was  raised  from  2  cents  to  5  cents.  We 
have  already  recounted  in  another  connection  how  in  1856  Transyl- 
vania University  was  converted  into  a  State  normal  school,  as  a  much- 
needed  head  of  the  State  public-school  system,  an  experiment  which 
was  at  that  time  a  failure. 

Robert  Richardson,  A.  M.,  was  superintendent  from  1859  to  1863, 
and  Daniel  Stevenson,  D.  D.,  from  1863  to  1867.  During  this  period, 
in  which  no  material  organic  changes  were  made  in  the  school  system, 
it  was  ably  and  faithfully  administered  and  made  some  progress,  at 
least  in  public  regard,  if  not  otherwise.  Its  operations  during  part 
of  the  time  were  considerably  disturbed  by  the  civil  war.  The  loss  of 
property  due  to  the  overthrow  of  slavery  had  also  caused  its  income 
to  decrease,  the  per  capita  in  1867  being  72  cents,  whereas  in  1863  it 
had  been  $1.10.  Dr.  Stevenson  said  of  the  system,  just  before  the 
close  of  his  administration,  that  its  condition  was  very  much  what  it 
had  been  twenty-five  years  before. 

In  1867,  after  peace  and  comparative  order  had  been  restored,  anew 
: -"Tress  began,  under  Supt.  Z.  F.  Smith,  who  had  been  elected 
at  year,  and  served  until  1871.  Mr.  Smith  began  his 
adminisiiiit  i  >u  with  a  progressive  programme  of  action,  which  he  sub- 
mitted to  the  people  in  a  special  report,  accompanying  Governor  Ste- 
venson's message  of  December  2,  1867.  His  ideas  were  based  on 
having  the  means  of  the  system  increased  and  its  organization 
improved. 

The  main  features  of  his  plan  were  as  follows :  To  have  the  ad 
valorem  State  tax  increased  from  5  to  20  cents  on  the  $100,  to  which 
a  poll  tax  of  from  $1  to  $2  per  capita  was  to  be  added ;  to  grant  to 
districts  the  right  to  vote,  an  additional  tax  of  30  cents  on  the  $100,  in 
order  to  provide  schoolhouses,  lengthen  the  school  term,  and  pay 
better  salaries  to  teachers.  Also  to  have  the  school  law  so  recon- 
structed as  to  secure  improved  schoolhouses,  uniformity  of  text-books, 
better  qualifications  of  teachers,  greater  power  for  local  school  officers, 
and  other  desirable  results.  His  programme  also  included  more 
advanced  ideas,  such  as  the  establishment  of  a  State  normal  school, 
the  formation  of  teachers'  institutes  and  associations,  and  other  pro- 
gressive features,  many  of  which  have  since  been  adopted. 

His  proposition  to  submit  the  question  of  an  additional  tax  of  15 
cents  to  the  people  was  passed  by  the  legislature  on  January  22, 1869, 
and  was  approved  by  the  people  in  the  succeeding  August.  Soon 
2127— No.  25 22 


338  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

after,  a  greatly  improved  school  law  was  adopted,  although  it  was  not 
yet  what  Superintendent  Smith  would  have  had  it,  as  it  contained 
many  objectionable  features  of  the  old  law.  When  this  new  law 
went  fully  into  effect,  on  July  1,  1870,  the  public-school  system  of 
Kentucky  may  be  said  to  have  entered  upon  a  fourth  era  of  progress. 

Within  a  year  a  great  and  vital  impetus  was  imparted  to  it,  as  may 
be  clearly  seen  by  a  comparison  of  the  statistics  of  the  school  years 
1868-69  and^  1870-71,  the  last  full  year  under  the  old  system  and  the, 
first  one  under  the  new.  The  number  of  schools  taught  had  increased 
from  4,477  to  5,177;  the  amount  expended  for  schools  from  $275,113.61 
to  $779,672,  the  latter  making  a  per  capita  allowance  of  $2  per  scholar 
instead  of  73  cents,  as  under  the  former,  although  there  had  been  an 
increase  from  376,868  children  of  school  age  to  389,836. 

Besides  these  organic  advances  during  Superintendent  Smith's 
administration,  the  discussion  of  the  cause  in  the  legislature  and  the 
arguments  advanced  in  its  behalf  by  the  superintendent  and  other 
zealous  friends,  through  the  State  press  and  otherwise,  did  much  to 
awaken  in  its  behalf  a  deeper  and  more  widespread  public  interest 
than  formerly,  and  one  which  would  later  demand  a  more  liberal 
and  efficient  system.  The  work  accomplished  during  the  administra- 
tion may  be  summed  up  in  general,  according  to  Collins,  as  follows : 
The  amount  of  State  funds  distributed  had  been  greatly  enlarged ;  the 
number  of  schools  taught  increased,  as  well  as  the  average  attend- 
ance on  these;  and  the  character  of  the  teachers,  and  consequently 
the  quality  of  education  given,  greatly  improved. 

LATER  DEVELOPMENT. 

The  condition  of  the  public-school  system  of  Kentucky  for  the  last 
twenty-eight  years  has  been  one  of  uniform  and  steady  progress  in 
almost  all  directions,  particularly  in  the  matter  of  the  perfection  of 
its  organization  and  the  continued  growth  of  a  healthy  public  senti- 
ment, especially  locally.  Some  notice  will  now  be  taken  of  the  various 
progressive  steps  that  have  occurred  under  the  different  superin- 
tendents' administrations. 

In  1871  H.  A.  M.  Henderson,  D.  D.,  LL.  JX,  succeeded  Mr.  Smith 
as  superintendent  and  served  efficiently  for  eight  years,  being  indorsed 
by  the  people,  by  reelection,  in  1875.  Superintendent  Henderson  did 
much  toward  perfecting  the  statistical  blanks  of  his  department,  in 
more  completely  organizing  institutes,  first  inaugurated  in  the  pre- 
vious administration  and  very  efficient  in  improving  the  qualifications 
of  teachers,  and  also  in  remodeling  the  school  law  to  suit  the  wants 
of  the  State.  The  general  statutes  of  1873  made  important  and  valu- 
able changes  in  this  law,  especially  by  reintroducing  the  plan  of 
district  taxation  as  supplementary  to  the  income  derived  from  the 
State. 

In  1879  J.  D.  Pickett,  LL.  D.,  was  elected  superintendent.  He 
served  continuously  until  1891,  during  which  time  several  laws  of 


THE    PUBLIC-SCHOOL    SYSTEM.  339 

importance  were  passed.  By  an  act  approved  April  24,  1882, 1  the  per 
capita  for  white  and  colored  schools  was  equalized  and  a  vote  on  an 
additional  2  cents  ad  valorem  tax  authorized,  while  at  the  same  time 
the  school  fund  secured  its  just  proportion  of  the  tax  on  railroads  and 
other  corporations.  The  additional  2  cents  tax  was  ratified  at  the 
polls  in  the  following  August. 

An  act  of  May  12,  1884,  secured  quite  an  advance  for  the  system 
by  substituting  county  superintendents,  elected  by  the  people,  instead 
of  the  previous  county  commissioners  appointed  by  the  county  courts. 
It  also  improved  the  course  of  study,  made  better  arrangements  for 
building  schoolhouses,  reduced  the  size  of  districts,  and  provided  for 
State  as  well  as  county  institutes.  It  was  amended  on  May  17,  1886, 
in  such  a  way  as  to  improve  the  qualifications  of  teachers.  Several 
steps  of  advancement  outside  of  these  laws  are  noticeable  during 
Superintendent  Pickett's  administration,  such  as  the  lengthening  of 
the  school  term,  the  improvement  in  average  attendance,  the  increase 
in  the  amount  of  local  taxation  levied,  and  the  establishment  of 
graded  schools  in  a  number  of  towns  and  cities. 

E.  P.  Thompson  became  superintendent  by  popular  election  in  1891. 
The  new  State  constitution  adopted  in  this  year,  besides  putting  the 
former  school  fund,  and  its  additions  as  well,  on  the  old  basis  of  being 
inviolably  devoted  to  public  schools,  added,  by  section  188,  to  the  pre- 
vious school  fund  the  direct-tax  fund  of  $606,641.03,  which  had  been 
returned  to  the  State  by  a  Congressional  act  of  March  2, 1891.  A  new 
State  bond,  bearing  6  per  cent  interest,  was  issued  for  this  amount  on 
March  12,  1892.  On  July  6,  1893,  the  school  laws  were  systematized 
and  codified  in  conformity  with  the  new  constitution.  Superintendent 
Thompson  says2  of  this  law:  "Under  its  express  and  constructive 
provisions  an  organization  is  assured  that  will  be  not  only  symmetri- 
cal and  consistent,  but  adapted  to  present  needs  and  promotive  of 
normal  development."  The  principal  new  features  of  this  law  were, 
that  it  required  all  schools  to  be  graded  and  to  be  at  least  five  months 
in  length  each  year;  that  it  made  county  teachers'  associations  obliga- 
tory, and  provided  for  county  teachers'  libraries. 

The  administration  of  Superintendent  Thompson  is  marked  espe- 
cially by  the  establishment  of  well-organized  graded  schools  in  almost 
all  the  populous  communities  in  the  State.  The  average  school 
attendance  also  considerably  increased  during  his  term  of  office,  while 

Schools  for  the  colored  population  of  the  State  were  first  provided  by  the  act 
of  February  14, 1866,  which  appropriated  for  their  schools  all  the  taxes  paid  by  the 
race  in  the  State  except  enough  to  support  their  paupers.  By  an  act  of  March  9, 
1867,  a  poll  tax  for  school  purposes  was  laid  on  all  males  of  the  race  over  18  years 
of  age.  By  an  act  of  February  23,  1874,  all  tines  and  forfeitures  paid  by  the  race 
were  added  to  their  school  fund  and  all  moneys  from  the  sale  of  public  lands  set 
apart  by  the  United  States  until  the  per  capita  of  the  race  should  equal  that  of 
the  whites. 

2  Report  of  1893-94,  p.  viii. 


340  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

there  was  a  considerable  enlargement  of  local  taxation  supplementary 
to  the  State  fund,  already  augmented  by  the  direct-tax  fund.  These 
additional  means  made  it  possible  for  the  average  wages  of  teachers 
to  be  advanced  somewhat,  and  consequently  their  qualifications  were 
to  some  degree  improved. 

In  January,  1896, 1  Superintendent  Thompson  was  succeeded  by 
W.  J.  Davidson,  who  is  the  present  official  head  of  the  State  public 
school  system.  The  principal  event  of  Superintendent  Davidson's 
administration  has  been  the  passage  by  the  legislature  of  a  compulsory 
school  law,  approved  March  28,  1896,  which  requires  at  least  eight 
weeks'  continuous  attendance  at  school  annually  on  the  part  of  all 
children  between  7  and  14  years  of  age.  Statistics  seem  to  indicate 
that  this  act  has,  during  the  past  two  years,  considerably  increased  the 
average  attendance  of  the  public  schools  of  the  State. 

The  progress  of  the  public  school  system  of  Kentucky  in  recent 
years  may  be  readily  seen  by  a  comparison,  in  a  general  way,  of  the 
school  statistics  for  the  years  1870-71  and  1895-96.  The  number  of 
schools  taught  had  during  this  time  increased  from  5,177  to  8,143, 
and  the  amount  expended  for  schools  from  $779,672  to  $3,028,432.2 
This  gave  a  considerably  larger  per  capita  allowance,  although  the 
number  of  children  of  school  age  had  increased  from  389,836  to 
736,109. 

The  sources  of  State  school  revenue  in  1897  were  the  following:  (1) 
The  interest  at  6  per  cent  on  the  permanent  school  fund,  composed  of 
the  fund  of  $1,327,000,3  and  the  bank  stock  of  $73,500  held  by  the 
State  in  1870,  and  the  direct-tax  fund  of  $606,641.08  of  1891  ;4  (2)  of 
a  State  tax  of  22  cents  on  each  $100;  (3)  of  forty-four  eighty-fifths  of 
all  taxes  on  railroads,  banks,  and  some  other  corporations. 

The  organization  of  the  system,  during  the  period  referred  to  above, 
has  also  been  greatly  improved  in  almost  all  respects,  especially  in 
the  raising  in  dignity  and  importance  of  the  office  of  State  superin- 
tendent and  the  conferring  of  greater  powers  upon  its  incumbent. 
The  greatest  weakness  of  the  organization  at  present  is  the  local 
trustee  system,  which  is  of  such  a  character  that,  at  least  until  public 
sentiment  is  greatly  improved,  it  does  not  guarantee  the  appointment 
of  efficient  teachers  for  the  schools,  especially  in  the  country  districts. 
Local  public  opinion  has  much  improved  of  late  years,  as  is  shown  by 
the  large  increase  during  that  time  of  local  taxation  for  school  pur- 
poses. The  further  enlargement  of  local  taxation  is,  however,  the 
one  thing  needful,  in  a  financial  way,  for  a  larger  general  success  of 

1  Under  the  State  constitution  of  1891  the  superintendent  goes  into  office  in  Jan- 
uary, instead  of  in  the  summer,  as  before.     This  made  Superintendent  Thompson's 
term  a  little  more  than  four  years. 

2  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  1896-97,  p.   LXIX.     Of  this 
amount  $1,079,254  came  from  local  taxation  and  $1,804,360  from  State  taxation. 

3  Fixed  at  this  amount  by  act  of  March  21,  1870. 

4 There  is  also  a  surplus  fund  going  to  the  various  counties  of  $381,986.08. 


THE    PUBLIC-SCHOOL    SYSTEM.  341 

the  public  schools  of  the  State.  Kentucky  already  grants  as  a  State 
one  of  the  largest  per  capita  allowances  to  her  public  schools  of  any 
State  in  the  Union,  and  further  increase  of  State  taxation  is,  by  those 
who  are  well  informed  on  the  subject,  not  thought  to  be  desirable.  An 
improvement  in  the  local  support  of  schools,  which  will  cultivate  the 
proper  public  interest,  is,  however,  much  needed  in  the  State. 

According  to  the  recommendations  of  Mr.  Davidson  and  other  recent 
superintendents,  other  improvements  are  needed  to  bring  the  system 
up  to  what  it  should  be  and  to  make  it  compare  to  the  best  advantage 
with  the  more  advanced  systems  of  other  States.  Among  these  may 
be  mentioned  the  lengthening  of  the  required  school  year  to  at 
least  seven  months,  the  establishment  of  not  less  than  two  additional 
training  schools  for  teachers,  in  addition  to  the  one  already  connected 
with  the  State  college,  and  also  the  introduction  of  better  methods  of 
employing  teachers.  This  last  object  would  be  largely  brought  about 
by  a  proper  change  in  the  method  of  selecting  local  school  trustees.1 
It  can  probably  be  fairly  said  that  few,  if  any,  of  the  States  of  the 
Union  have,  in  recent  years,  made  more  rapid  or  better  progress  than 
Kentucky  in  the  organization  of  an  efficient  system  of  public  schools. 
Her  school  system  is  doubtless  much  less  advanced  than  that  of  a 
number  of  the  States  more  favorably  situated  in  various  ways,  but 
its  condition  for  the  future  is  one  of  great  hopefulness. 

STATE   ELEEMOSYNARY   INSTITUTIONS. 

The  public-school  system  of  Kentucky  in  its  legal  organization 
includes  not  only  the  public  schools  proper,  but  also  the  Agricultural 
and  Mechanical  College,  the  State  Normal  School,  and  the  various 
institutions  intended  for  the  education  of  the  children  of  the  State 
who  are  defective  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  be  able  to  attend  with 
advantage  its  public  schools.  Kentucky  has  provided  well  for  these 
classes  by  the  establishment  of  institutions  for  the  education  of  the 
blind,  of  deaf-mutes,  and  of  feeble-minded  children.  The  other  parts 
of  the  system  having  been  described,  a  general  idea  will  here  be  given 
of  these  institutions,  in  order  to  give  a  complete  view  of  the  State's 
educational  policy. 

The  Kentucky  Institution  for  the  Education  of  Deaf-Mutes  was 
established  in  1823  and  is  located  at  Danville.  It  is  open  to  all  chil- 
dren who  are  deaf,  between  8  and  18  years  of  age,  to  whom  it  gives  a 
public-school  education,  in  addition  to  which  the  boys  are  given 
manual-labor  training  and  the  girls  are  taught  the  domestic  arts,  all 
being  required  to  labor  two  hours  and  a  half  each  day.  A  department 
for  colored  children  was  added  to  the  school  in  1885.  The  institution 

'An  improvement  in  this  regard  was  provided  by  the  legislature  of  1898  by  hav- 
ing the  trustees  elected  after  the  schools  begin,  thereby  preventing  to  some  extent 
the  attempt  of  prospective  teachers  to  influence  their  election. 


342  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

uses  the  combined  oral  and  manual  metnods  of  instruction.    Augustus 
Rogers  is  the  present  superintendent. 

The  Kentucky  Institution  for  the  Education  of  the  Blind  was 
founded  in  1842  and  is  located  in  Louisville.  It  has  a  fine  main  build- 
ing, with  accommodations  for  100  pupils,  used  for  white  children,  and 
a  separate  building  for  colored  children,  which  will  accommodate  25. 
Both  buildings  are  splendidly  located  in  a  beautiful  park  of  25  acres. 
The  school  is  under  the  charge  of  a  board  of  nine  citizens  of  Jefferson 
County,  appointed  by  the  governor.  It  receives  all  children  between 
6  and  18  years  of  age  who  can  not  see  well  enough  to  study  in  the 
public  schools.  To  these  it  aims  to  furnish  a  good  grammar-school 
education,  with  special  instruction  to  all  in  manual  training  and 
domestic  economy,  and  a  good  musical  education  to  those  who  are 
capable  of  taking  it.  The  .present  superintendent  is  B.  B.  Huntoon. 

The  Kentucky  institution  for  the  training  and  education  of  feeble- 
minded children  is  situated  near  Frankfort,  and  was  organized  in 
1860.  Its  grounds  contain  95  acres  of  good  blue-grass  land.  The 
institution  receives  children  between  6  and  18  years  of  age  who  are  so 
defective  as  not  to  be  able  to  pursue  with  success  the  educational 
methods  ordinarily  used  in  the  public  schools,  and  yet  are  capable  of 
receiving  some  mental  training.  To  these  it  imparts  such  elementary 
instruction  as  they  are  able  to  receive,  while  at  the  same  time  teaching 
them  the  rudiments  of  some  useful  trade.  The  school  has  been  partic- 
ularly unfortunate  in  the  way  of  fires.  The  first  building,  a  frame  one, 
was  burned  about  1867.  It  was  replaced  by  a  handsome  brick  struc- 
ture, which  was  burned  in  1888.  A  new  brick  building  which  was 
then  erected  was  also  destroyed  by  fire  on  September  1,  1896.  The 
present  building,  which  is  the  best  proportioned  and  most  convenient 
of  all,  was  occupied  on  January  1,  1898.  This  school,  as  well  as  all  the 
other  eleemosynary  educational  institutions  of  the  State,  requires  the 
students  attending  it  to  pay  a  moderate  charge  for  their  education, 
as  far  as  they  are  able.  Dr.  J.  P.  Huff  is  its  superintendent. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Report  of  the  commissioners  of  1822;  reports  of  various  legislative  committees  on 
education,  especially  that  of  the  committee  on  education  of  the  house  of  represent- 
atives of  1829,  second  edition,  Frankfort,  1830;  the  Common-school  Assistant,  5 
volumes,  Albany,  1836-1840;  messages  of  governors;  acts  of  the  legislature;  reports 
of  the  State  superintendent  of  education;  inaugural  address  of  president  Green,  of 
Transylvania  University;  Henderson's  centennial  exhibit;  articles  by  Colonel 
Durrett  in  the  Courier- Journal  of  January,  1881;  articles  by  T.  M.  Goodknight  in 
the  Southern  School  of  1893-94;  Collins's  sketches;  Butler's,  Collins's,  Shaler's,  and 
Smith's  histories;  Biographical  Encyclopedia  of  Kentucky;  the  Presbyterian  Ency- 
clopedia; the  American  Journal  of  Education;  the  American  Annals  of  Education; 
Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education;  Niles's  Register;  the  American 
Almanac. 


THE    PUBLIC-SCHOOL    SYSTEM.  343 

PUBLIC-SCHOOL   SYSTEM   OF   LOUISVILLE. 

The  development  of  a  system  of  schools  in  the  city  of  Louisville  has 
been  quite  progressive,  having  been,  as  a  rule,  quite  in  advance  of 
the  educational  policj7  of  Kentucky  and  even,  in  some  particulars,  of 
the  country  at  large.  A  sketch  of  it  will  therefore  be  historically 
valuable  as  well  as  interesting,  and  is  accordingly  given  in  this  con- 
nection. Butler  says,1  in  speaking  of  the  little  Kentucky  had  done 
for  public  elementary  education  in  1834,  "To  this  remark  the  city  of 
Louisville  presents  a  proud  exception  and  a  model  for  the  rest  of  the 
State." 

We  have  already,  in  tracing  the  history  of  Jefferson  Seminary, 
noticed  that  at  the  founding  of  that  institution  in  1816  there  were  in 
Louisville  a  number  of  schools  of  the  "  Old-field"  type,  for  which  the 
new  seminary  was  to  be  a  finishing  school.  None  of  these  schools 
were,  however,  free,  as  tuition  was  charged  in  all  of  them,  the  usual 
rate  being  $2.50  a  quarter. 

The  foundation  of  the  present  public-school  system  of  Louisville  is 
to  be  found  in  a  provision  of  section  12,  article  11,  of  its  first  city 
charter,  granted  on  February  13,  1828,  which  says: 

The  mayor  and  councilinen  shall  have  power  and  authority  to  establish  one  or 
more  free  schools  in  each  ward  of  said  city,  and  may  secure  donations  of  real  and 
personal  estate  to  erect  the  necessary  buildings  and  to  provide  the  necessary 
means  for  their  maintenance,  and  may  supply  the  funds  from  time  to  time  by  a 
tax  on  the  ward  or  wards  where  such  school  or  schools  shall  be  established. 

This  provision  was  somewhat  deficient,  especially  in  providing  no 
funds  for  building  purposes,  but  was  in  advance  of  any  action  yet 
taken  by  the  State  and  even,  as  we  shall  see,  somewhat  of  public 
opinion  in  the  city  at  the  time. 

On  April  24,  1829,  the  city  council,  upon  the  previous  recommenda- 
tion of  John  C.  Bucklin,  the  first  mayor  of  the  city,  "that  steps  be 
taken  looking  to  the  adoption  of  some  well-digested  system  for  estab- 
lishing a  permanent  free  school,"  passed  an  ordinance  establishing  a 
public  school,  on  the  Lancastrian  or  monitorial  plan,  to  be  free  to 
all  white  children  between  6  and  14  years  of  age.  This  school  was  to 
be  managed  by  a  board  of  six  trustees,  appointed  each  year  by  the 
mayor  and  city  council. 

Soon  afterwards  the  trustees  elected  Mann  Butler,  then  at  the  head 
of  Jefferson  Seminary,  as  the  principal  of  the  proposed  school,  and 
appropriated  $150  for  him  to  go  east  to  examine  the  Lancastrian  sys- 
tem, then  in  use  in  New  York,  Boston,  and  other  cities.  He  returned 
in  August  heartily  in  favor  of  the  system,  which  was  first  put  in  oper- 
ation in  the  upper  story  of  the  old  Baptist  Church,  on  the  southwest 
corner  of  Green  and  Fifth  streets,  where  the  first  public  school  in 
Louisville  and  in  Kentucky  was  opened  on  August  17,  1829,  under 

1  History  of  Kentucky,  p.  188. 


344  HISTORY   OP    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN    KENTUCKY. 

Mr.  Butler,  with  Edward  Baker  as  assistant.  The  principal's  salary 
was  $750  annually;  that  of  the  assistant,  $400. 

This  school  was  free  the  first  year,  the  city  appropriating  $2,050  for 
its  support.  Public  opinion,  however,  does  not  seem  to  have  sup- 
ported the  granting  of  this  appropriation,  and  in  the  second  year  tui- 
tion fees  were  charged.  These  were  retained  for  a  number  of  years, 
but  were  always  moderate  in  amount.  Pupils  soon  crowded  into  the 
new  school,  and  before  the  end  of  its  first  year  many  had  to  be  turned 
awajT  for  want  of  room.  A  report  of  a  committee  of  the  city  council, 
made  through  its  chairman,  James  Guthrie,  on  November  20,  1829, 
says  there  were  then  257  pupils  enrolled,  of  whom  150  were  reading 
under  monitors  and  75  without,  while  30  were  learning  their  alphabet, 
the  average  daily  attendance  being  180. 

Meanwhile,  in  August,  1829,  a  committee  of  the  city  council  had 
purchased  a  lot  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Walnut  and  Fifth  streets 
and  begun  the  erection  of  a  building  for  the  school,  which  was  occu- 
pied the  following  year,  and  had  cost,  including  the  lot,  about  $10,000, 
appropriated,  it  seems,  from  the  city  treasury.  It  was  constructed  of 
brick;  had  an  imposing  front  of  40  feet,  and  a  depth  of  94  feet;  was 
three  stories  in  height,  and  was  designed  to  accommodate  750  pupils. 
A  city  ordinance  of  August  20,  1830,  divided  the  school  into  a  pri- 
mary, a  female,  and  a  grammar  school  department,  each  under  a  prin- 
cipal, the  first  two  of  whom  were  to  receive  $600  each  annually  and 
the  last  $700.  At  the  same  time  the  law  instituted  a  system  of  tuition 
fees,  which  were  made  $1  per  quarter  in  the  primary  department  and 
$1.50  in  each  of  the  others,  the  trustees  having  the  power  to  remit 
these  fees,  iiipart  or  in  whole,  whenever  in  their  judgment  the  pupils 
were  not  able  to  pay  them.  Monitors  were  to  be  used  as  assistant 
teachers. 

The  school  was  opened  in  the  new  building  on  the  first  Monday  in 
September,  1830,  Mann  Butler  being  principal  of  the  grammar  school, 
Rev.  Daniel  Banks  of  the  female  department,  and  Alexander  Ewell 
of  the  primary,  all  ripe  scholars.  During  this  year  there  were  380 
pupils  in  attendance.  The  teachers  certainly  earned  their  money,  for 
they  were  required  to  teach  from  six  to  eight  hours  a  day  for  eleven 
months  of  the  year.  The  course  was  intended  to  give  only  an  ordi- 
nary English  education,  although  it  included  for  a  time  considerable 
high-school  work.  The  school  had  in  1832 '  $200  in  apparatus,  and 
its  total  annual  cost  to  the  city  at  that  time  was  $5,070,  $2,400  of 
which  was  paid  by  tuition  fees.  It  had  then  400  pupils  in  attendance. 

The  city  received  nothing  from  the  State  public-school  fund  until 
1840,  but  by  a  legislative  act  of  January  29,  1830,  had  been  author- 
ized to  appropriate  to  her  public  schools  all  escheats  of  property  in 
the  city  and  all  fines  and  forfeitures  in  the  Jefferson  circuit  court 
and  the  courts  held  in  the  city  by  the  mayor  and  by  justices  of  the 

1  Louisville  Directory  for  1832,  page  138,  article  by  Mann  Butler. 


THE    PUBLIC-SCHOOL    SYSTEM.  345 

peace.  We  are  not  informed  as  to  what  income  was  received  from 
these  sources,  but  it  was  probably  not  large.  We  have  seen  that  Jef- 
ferson Seminary  was  acquired  by  the  city  in  1830,  and  that  it  was 
soon  made  a  high  school,  under  the  name  of  Louisville  College.  This 
gave  the  city  quite  a  complete  school  system,  composed  of  primary, 
grammar  school,  and  high  school  departments. 

Mann  Butler  remained  in  charge  of  the  grammar-school  depart- 
ment until  1834,  when  he  resigned  to  accept  a  professorship  in  Tran- 
sylvania University.  In  November  of  that  year  a  remarkable  step 
for  the  time  was  taken  in  establishing  a  night  school  for  apprentices 
especially.  The  sessions  of  this  school  were  to  last  four  months,  and 
its  tuition  fees  were  very  small.  It  had,  the  first  session,  2  teachers 
and  22  pupils,  and  the  second  session  1  teacher  and  24  pupils.  Bar- 
nard tells1  us  that,  in  connection  with  these  schools,  a  school  agent 
was  appointed,  whose  duty  it  was  to  visit  all  the  city  schools  quar- 
terly and  report  on  their  condition.  His  yearly  salary  was  $400.  We 
see  here  one  of  the  chief  functions  of  a  modern  city  superintendent. 
The  records  of  the  city  school  board  of  Louisville  show  that  the  duties 
of  this  school  agent  were  soon  enlarged,  so  as  to  be  practically  iden- 
tical with  those  of  the  city  superintendent  of  to-day. 

Barnard  calls 2  Rev.  James  Freeman  Clark,  appointed  school  agent 
by  the  mayor  and  city  council  on  May  27,  1839,  the  first  city  superin- 
tendent of  schools  in  America,  but  the  records  of  the  school  board, 
then  called  the  "board  of  visitors,"  show  that  as  early,  at  least,  as 
1838  Samuel  Dickinson  had  been  appointed  as  their  agent,  with  all 
the  functions  subsequently  exercised  by  Rev.  Mr.  Clark.  The  title 
superintendent  was  not  regularly  applied  to  this  agent  until  1847,  but 
the  duties  of  the  latter  had  undoubtedly  been  identical  with  those  of 
the  former  for  a  number  of  years.  Louisville  is  thus,  according  to 
Barnard,  to  be  credited  with  having  the  first  city  superintendent  of 
schools  in  the  country,  as  well  as  establishing  the  first  night  schools. 

Considerable  was  done  between  1830  and  1840  in  the  way  of  enlarg- 
ing the  field  of  education  in  the  city,  as  additional  schools  were  estab- 
lished, some  in  buildings  erected  for  them,  others  in  rented  build- 
ings, so  that  by  1840  there  were,  besides  the  Louisville  College,  7  pri- 
mary schools,  6  grammar  schools,  and  1  night  school,  with  an  aggre- 
gate attendance,  of  1,287  and  an  average  attendance  of  948.  The  salary 
of  the  principal  of  the  main  grammar  school  had  by  this  time  been 
raised  to  $900,  and  that  of  the  school  agent  to  $800.  The  city  received 
this  year  its  first  pro  rata  from  the  State  fund,  amounting  to  $831.20. 

On  May  27,  1840,  an  important  ordinance  was  passed  by  the  city 
council,  which  declared  in  its  first  section : 

That  from  and  after  the  1st  of  September  next  the  monitorial  system  of  instruc- 
tion and  all  charges  for  tuition  fees  in  the  city  schools  be,  and  they  are  hereby, 
abolished. 

1  American  Journal  of  Education,  vol.  19,  p.  537.     -  Ibid.,  vol.  24,  pp.  253-255. 


346  HISTORY   OF    HIGHER   EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

This  made  the  whole  city  school  system  free,  except  Louisville  Col- 
lege, which  still  charged  tuition. 

From  1840  to  1850  there  was  no  advance  in  the  free-school  idea, 
except  that  an  arrangement  was  made,  about  1845,  to  supply  poor 
children  with  books  when  necessary,  but  new  schools  were  added  to 
those  already  existing  under  the  new  method,  until,  in  1845,  there  were 
5  grammar  schools  and  15  primary  schools,  with  an  aggregate  attend- 
ance of  1,750,  and  an  average  attendance  of  1,375;  and  in  1850  there 
were  5  grammar  and  18  primary  schools,  which  received  for  their  sup- 
port $3,850.80  from  the  State  and  $12,651.73  from  the  city  and  had  on 
their  rolls  the  names  of  4,303  pupils.  There  were,  in  1850,  43  teachers 
and  assistants,  who  received  salaries  aggregating  $16,050,  and  the 
value  of  the  city  school  property  at  that  time  was  $33,721.85.  The  city 
then  had  45,000  inhabitants  and  was  divided  into  eight  wards. 

The  closing  words  of  the  fifth  section  of  Article  X  of  the  second 
city  charter,  adopted  March  24,  1851,  were  as  follows: 

No  fees  for  tuition  shall  ever  be  charged  in  said  academical  department  of  said 
university,  in  said  high  school  for  females,  or  in  said  public  schools  of  Louisville.1 

This  charter  placed  the  property  of  the  public  schools  and  their 
management  in  charge  of  a  board  of  trustees,  composed  of  two  mem- 
bers from  each  ward  of  the  city,  elected  by  the  people  of  the  ward. 
It  declared  that  the  academic  department  of  the  university  should  be 
opened  in  its  new  location  and  a  central  female  high  school  should  be 
established  in  1852.  It  also  allowed  the  city  to  levy  a  tax  of  not  less 
than  12-J  cents  or  more  than  25  cents  on  the  $100,  and  to  appropriate 
its  portion  of  the  State  school  fund  and  all  fines  and  forfeitures  in  its 
courts,  together  with  all  escheats  in  its  limits,  to  its  own  schools.  In 
addition  it  was  empowered  to  make  a  special  appropriation  of  $75,000 
to  supply  needed  school  buildings. 

Early  in  1852,  in  order  to  put  the  schools  on  a  ward  basis  and  have 
more  desirable  buildings,  all  the  old  school  property  was  sold  and  new 
lots,  suitably  located,  purchased,  $68,405  being  paid  out  for  lots  between 
May  3,  1852,  and  May  14, 1876,  and  between  1857  and  1873,  20  school 
buildings,  all  brick  but  one,  were  erected,  the  city  having  contributed, 
between  January  1, 1853,  and  February  1,  1870,  $610,000  in  appropria- 
tions to  its  schools.  When  the  third  city  charter  was  adopted,  on 
March  3,  1870,  there  were  4  intermediate,  14  district,  and  4  branch 
schools,  most  of  them  in  much  larger  buildings  than  in  1850,  with  an 
enrollment  of  13,593  pupils  and  an  annual  income  of  $151,539.23,  of 
which  $28,520.48  came  from  the  State.  There  were  267  teachers  and 
assistants,  with  annual  salaries  of  $164,265. 17. 2  In  1854  the  study  of 
German  had  been  introduced  into  the  schools,  and,  in  1870,  4,667 

1  This  made  the  whole  city  school  system  free.    The  academic  department  of  the 
university  is  old  Louisville  College,  nominally  made  a  part  of  the  University  of 
Louisville  in  1846. 

2  The  city  then  had  12  wards  and  a  population  of  something  over  100,000. 


THE    PUBLIC-SCHOOL    SYSTEM.  347 

pupils  were  enrolled  in  the  department,  there  being  then  1  superin- 
tendent, 10  teachers,  and  .13  assistants  connected  with  it,  whose  salaries 
were  $15,700.  In  1861  the  Pestalozzian  method  of  object  teaching  was 
introduced  into  the  Louisville  schools,  mainly  through  the  influence 
of  Prof.  W.  N.  Hailmann,  professor  of  physical  science  in  the  male 
high  school  at  the  time,  a  normal  school  being  temporarily  established 
to  facilitate  its  introduction. 

The  charter  of  1870  made  the  tax  for  city  schools  25  cents  on  the 
$100,  a  special  levy  of  8  cents  for  three  years  or  longer,  as  the  city 
council  might  decide,  being  allowed,  in  addition,  to  supply  buildings 
as  needed.  In  the  matter  of  providing  for  the  education  of  the  negro 
only  has  Louisville  ever  been  behind  the  State  of  Kentucky  in  edu- 
cational policy.  The  State  passed  its  first  law  looking  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  schools  for  its  colored  population  in  1866,  but  the  first 
step  looking  in  this  direction  was  not  taken  by  Louisville  until  1867, 
when,  by  an  amendment  to  the  city  charter,  all  taxes  paid  by  the 
negroes  of  the  city  were  set  apart  to  provide  separate  schools  for  their 
children. 

Nothing  was  accomplished  under  this  act,  but  section  86  of  the 
charter  of  1870  made  a  similar  provision,  and,  by  a  liberal  interpreta- 
tion of  this  charter,  the  city  soon  went  far  ahead  of  the  State  in  pro- 
viding schools  for  the  race.  In  the  latter  part  of  1870  two  colored 
schools  were  opened  with  3  teachers  each  and  an  enrollment  of  457 
pupils.  The  first  colored  high  school  building,  a  very  handsome  and 
well-equipped  one,  was  dedicated  on  October  7, 1873,  there  being  then 
three  other  buildings  for  the  race  accommodating  1,000  pupils.  The 
running  of  these  cost  the  city  more  than  $3,000  a  year  above  the  taxes 
received  from  its  colored  population,  which  was  something  less  than 
$2,000.  The  number  of  these  schools  was  further  increased  in  the 
next  few  years  so  that  when,  in  1882,  the  schools  for  the  two  races 
were  put  upon  the  same  basis  by  State  action,  Louisville  already  had 
quite  well  provided  for  the  education  of  her  colored  population. 

The  history  of  the  school  system  of  Louisville  since  1870  has  been 
one  of  continued  and  uniform  progress  in  other  directions  besides 
that  just  indicated.  In  1880  an  additional  tax  of  5  cents  on  the  $100* 
was  imposed  to  meet  growing  needs.  In  that  year  the  income  of  the 
schools  from  city  taxation  was  $160,079,  whereas  in  1870  it  had  been 
$139,366.  The  amount  received  from  the  State  fund  in  1880  was  $50,964. 
In  1881  the  total  income  of  the  Louisville  schools  was  about  $300,000. 
At  that  time  there  were  31  schools  with  328  teachers  and  an  average 
attendance  of  14,992  pupils,  the  city  school  property  then  being  valued 
at  $847,338.20. 

The  charter  of  1893,  passed  in  order  to  conform  the  city  government 
to  the  new  State  constitution  of  1891,  retained  practically  intact  the 
previous  city  school  system,  in  the  organization  of  which  it  made  no 
material  changes,  the  control  of  the  system  being  vested  in  two  trustees 


348  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION    IN    KENTUCKY. 

elected  from  each  of  the  seven  legislative  districts  of  the  city  instead 
of  two  from  each  ward  as  formerly.  According  to  it,  the  cit}^  tax, 
levied  for  school  purposes,  was  made  not  less  than  33  cents  on  the  $100. 
The  growth  of  the  system  in  recent  years  may  be  seen  from  the  fol- 
lowing statistics  for  the  school  year  ending  June  30, 1897 :  There  were 
then  44  schools,  39  ward  schools,  primary,  secondary,  and  interme- 
diate, besides  4  high  schools  (including  the  manual  training  school), 
and  a  normal  school,  with  a  total  enrollment  of  26,242  pupils,  and 
an  average  attendance  of  19,830;  the  total  number  of  teachers 
being  556.  The  school  property  was  valued  at  $1,047,280,  and  the 
school  furniture  and  apparatus  at  $88,690.  The  money  received  from 
the  State  was  $176,310.80;  from  city  taxes  $326,154.35,  and  the  total 
expenses  for  the  year  were  $526,360.10,  of  which  $356,511.58  was  paid 
for  teachers'  salaries. 

Much  of  the  success  of  the  present  school  system  of  Louisville  is 
due  to  the  excellent  superintendents  of  schools  the  city  has  had  the 
good  fortune  usually  to  secure.  Of  these,  George  II.  Tingley,  jr., 
deserves  especially  to  be  mentioned  on  account  of  his  long  and  able 
services.  Mr.  Tingley  had  become  a  pupil  of  the  city  schools  almost 
from  the  inception  of  the  system,  was  later  a  teacher  and  then  a  trus- 
tee. He  was  elected  superintendent  in  September,  1863,  and  served 
continuously  until  his  resignation  on  October  7,  1894,  having  labored 
faithfully  in  behalf  of  the  system,  either  as  teacher,  trustee,  or  super- 
intendent, for  over  fifty  years.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  present 
efficient  superintendent,  E.  II.  Mark. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  features  of  the  development  of  the 
school  system  of  Louisville  in  recent  years  has  been  the  more  com- 
plete organization  and  enlargement  of  its  higher  departments.  These 
consist  at  present  of  four  high  schools,  including  the  manual  training 
school,  and  a  normal  school,  and  are  worthy  of  some  notice  in  this 
connection. 

We  have  seen  that  the  school  known  at  different  periods  in  its  his- 
tory as  Jefferson  Seminary,  Louisville  College,  and  the  academic 
department  of  the  University  of  Louisville  had  long  served  as  a  high 
school  for  the  boys  of  the  city.  By  the  charter  of  1851  it  was  regu- 
larly converted  into  the  city  male  high  school,  which  it  has  since 
remained.  This  transformation  and  the  change  to  the  new  location 
in  the  building  of  the  law  department  of  the  university,  which  it  has 
since  occupied,  do  not  seem  to  have  been  carried  out  until  1856,  when 
William  Harney  became  its  first  regular  high  school  principal.  It  has 
since  had  11  other  principals,  for  longer  or  shorter  periods  of  service. 
The  school  now  has  a  faculty  of  10  teachers  and  an  excellent  high 
school  course,  which  prepares  for  the  best  colleges  and  universities 
and  for  business  life.  It  usually  has  about  300  students  and  about 
30  graduates  annually. 


THE    PUBLIC-SCHOOL    SYSTEM.  349 

A  female  high  school  was  also  provided  for  by  the  charter  of  1851, 
to  be  established  in  the  next  year.  It  was  not  opened,  however,  until 
1856,  when  it  was  located  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Fifth  and  Walnut 
streets,  and  had  J.  C.  Spenser  as  its  first  principal.  It  has  since  had 
three  other  principals.  After  having  had  temporary  quarters  in  three 
other  buildings,  the  school  was  finally  located  in  1873  in  the  build- 
ing it  has  since  occupied  on  First  near  Chestnut  street.  This 
building  when  erected  was  one  of  the  largest  and  finest  of  its  kind 
in  the  country,  costing  with  its  furniture  something  over  $115,000. 

The  course  of  the  school  is  very  similar  to  that  of  the  male  high 
school,  but  substitutes  for  Greek  something  in  the  way  of  what  is 
usually  denominated  ornamental  education.  The  present  faculty  is 
composed  of  19  teachers.  The  usual  attendance  is  about  600  annually, 
and  the  graduates  generally  number  about  50.  Its  present  building 
has  been  overcrowded  for  several  years,  and  arrangements  have  con- 
sequently been  made  to  erect  for  it  a  fine  new  building  at  Fifth  and 
Hill  streets.  When  the  school  has  been  transferred  to  this  building, 
its  present  building  will  probably  become  a  home  for  the  male  high 
school,  which,  besides  having  no  permanent  location,  has  also  been 
cramped  for  space. 

The  importance  of  manual  training  had  for  some  time  been  appre- 
ciated by  the  school  authorities  of  Louisville,  and  efforts  had  pre- 
viously been  made  to  furnish  facilities  in  this  department  before  the 
first  preliminary  steps  looking  in  this  direction  were  actually  taken  in 
September,  1890,  when  a  manual-training  department  was  attached 
to  the  male  high  school.  This  had  since  been  in  operation  with  con- 
siderable success  when,  on  May  2,  1892,  Mr.  A.  V.  Dupont,  a  wealthy 
citizen  of  Louisville  and  an  enthusiast  for  such  education,  proposed 
to  build  and  equip  for  the  city,  at  his  own  expense,  a  first-class 
school  building  for  manual  training,  with  accommodation  for  300 
pupils,  provided  the  city  would  establish  a  manual- training  high 
school  as  a  part  of  its  regular  school  system.  This  proposition  was 
accepted,  and  the  building,  which  is  a  handsome  one,  with  a  complete 
modern  equipment,  was  partly  occupied  in  October,  1892. 

The  school  was  fully  inaugurated  in  the  autumn  of  1893,  with 
H.  G.  Brownell  as  its  first  regular  principal.  He  is  at  present  assisted 
by  a  faculty  of  12  other  teachers.  The  course  of  instruction,  while 
putting  great  emphasis  upon  drawing  and  shop  work  of  all  kinds, 
also  includes  elementary  science  and  mathematics,  together  with 
English,  German,  history,  and  civics.  Something  over  200  pupils 
have  attended  the  school  annually  since  its  establishment,  and  the 
graduates  during  the  last  four  years  have  averaged  something  over 
20  each  year. 

A  colored  high  school,  known  as  the  Central  School,  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  established  in  1873.  It  has  a  faculty  of  seven  teachers  and  a 


350  HISTORY    OF    HIGHER    EDUCATION   IN   KENTUCKY. 

course  including  the  departments  of  psychology  and  logic,  English, 
history,  mathematics,  natural  science,  and  Latin.  Its  annual  matric- 
ulation averages  about  200,  of  whom  20  are  usually  graduated. 

A  regular  city  normal  school  was  established  in  1871,  as  a  necessary 
complement  to  the  city  school  system,  in  order  to  supply  it  with  trained 
teachers.  The  school  was  located  in  one  of  the  city  school  buildings 
on  Main  street  until  its  present  building  on  Market  street  was  erected. 
Hiram  Roberts  was  its  first  principal,  and  remained  so  throughout  its 
history  until  his  death  in  1897,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  the  present 
principal,  W.  J.  McConathy. 

It  was  suspended  in  1878  on  account  of  the  extra  expense  due  to  its 
operation,  but  was  soon  found  to  be  almost  indispensable  and  was 
reopened  in  October,  1881.  The  present  faculty  has  four  regular 
instructors  and  five  critic  teachers.  The  school  receives  each  year  30 
graduates  from  the  female  high  school,  and  six  others  are  admitted  on 
examination.  The  regular  course  is  two  years  in  length,  and  there  are 
usually  about  30  normal  graduates.  A  commercial  department  was 
attached  to  this  school  in  1891,  and  has  commercial  and  business 
classes,  each  with  a  course  of  one  year.  These  classes  combined 
have  usually  about  150  pupils,  with  about  100  graduates.  There  are 
five  additional  teachers  in  this  department. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

The  Louisville  Directory  for  1832,  containing  a  sketch  of  the  city  by  Mann 
Butler  ;  Butler's  History  of  Kentucky;  Deering's  Louisville;  Louisville,  Past  and 
Present;  Williams's  Ohio  Falls  Cities;  articles  by  Colonel  Durrett  in  the  Courier- 
Journal  of  January,  1881;  Barnard's  Journal  of  Education. 


VITA. 

Alvin  Fayette  Lewis  was  born  near  Bowling  Green,  Kentucky, 
October  9,  1861.  He  received  his  collegiate  education  at  Ogden 
College,  Bowling  Green,  Kentucky,  and  Princeton  College,  New 
Jersey,  the  former  conferring  on  him  the  degree  of  A.  B.  in  1881  and 
of  A.  M.  in  1885,  and  the  latter  the  degree  of  A.  B.  in  1884  and  A.  M. 
in  1887.  He  was  Principal  of  a  preparatory  school  connected  with 
Ogden  College  in  1881-1882,  and  an  Instructor  in  Bardstown  (Ken- 
tucky) Male  and  Female  Institute  in  1884-1885.  He  was  then  an 
Adjunct  Professor  in  Arkansas  Industrial  University,  Fayetteville, 
Arkansas,  1885-1887,  and  a  Professor  in  the  State  Seminary  at  Talla- 
hassee, Florida,  1887-1889,  and  the  President  of  the  last-mentioned 
institution,  1892-1898,  being  absent  on  leave  during  1895-1896.  He 
pursued  graduate  studies  in  Johns  Hopkins  University  in  1889-1892 
and  1895-1896,  having  given  his  attention  mainly  to  Latin  and  Phil- 
osophy in  1889-1890  and  to  History  and  Economics  during  the 
remaining  years,  devoting  about  three  and  one-half  scholastic  years 
to  the  Departments  of  History  and  Economics  and  Philosophy,  in 
which  courses  were  pursued  principally  under  Professors  Adams  and 
Griffin,  Associate  Professors  Ely  and  Emmott,  and  under  Dr.  James 
Schouler,  Lecturer  in  American  History.  The  candidate  spent  the 
major  part  of  the  winter  semester  1898-1899  at  the  University  of 
Berlin,  pursuing  there  special  courses  in  the  departments  under  dif- 
ferent professors.  His  principal  subject  of  study  has  been  History, 
his  first  subordinate  Economics,  and  his  second  subordinate  Phil- 
osophy. At  intervals  between  1892  and  1898,  he  has  collected, 
mainly  on  the  ground,  the  facts  for  the  accompanying  dissertation 
on  the  History  of  Education  in  Kentucky. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE   ON   THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

Books  not  returned  on  time  are  subject  to  a  fine  of 
50c  per  volume  after  the  third  day  overdue,  increasing 
to  $1.00  per  volume  after  the  sixth  day.  Books  not  in 
demand  may  be  renewed  if  application  is  made  before 
expiration  of  loan  period. 


'-6 


20 


MAY  25  132 


REC'D  L.O 


APR  2  7  1978 


KC.cm.OCT    5'78 

SENT  ON  ILL 

PRO 3  2002 

I.  C.  BERKELEY 


50m- 7,' 16 


99716 


